Dying to Live Again
by horis gadungerchuck
Summary: Fang was your average teenager,who took life for granted. Until, he found out he has cancer. Now,he has 13 months to live. 13 months,to fall in love,to rebuild friendships, to live again.AH/AU,Fax.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride**

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><p><strong>Fang<strong>

"Niiiicccck, That annoying friend of yours, Aggy, is here"

I winced slightly, as my mom's high pitched voice rang, through the house, magnified due to the fact that I was sitting right beside her.

It was another typical morning, mom and I sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast (although, was mostly just picking at mine, as I was lacking an appetite) Mom in her usual plain-as-hell grey and white attire, as she was a lawyer and anything with colour in it would look "unprofessional", And me in a black T-shirt, and jeans.

I had gotten my looks from my mom, that much I knew. We both had Black hair, and dark eyes. My personality, on the other hand, must've come from my dad, who had died when I was 13. Where my mom was a perfectionist, who flipped if she found a single strand of hair creeping out of her the tight bun she always twisted her hair into, I was your average, rebellious 17 year old, who had been suspended from school more than once. Needless to say, we don't really get along well.

"Mom, I'm right here, the yelling isn't necessary" I muttered, standing up, and grabbing my black, slightly worn, school bag from the counter. " And , his name is, Iggy, not Aggy" I added.

She shot me a disdainful look, and waved her hands in an "I don't really care" kind of way. " I'll be home at around 1: Am, so don't wait up. You can order a pizza or something for supper, I don't really care, as long as you eat something. You're getting to skinny. Don't do any of that stupid stuff you usually do at school, they'll expel you this time, instead of suspending you"

I nodded, not really listening to what she was saying, and made my way outside. I found my best friend, Iggy, parked outside of the house, in his silver van. "Hey, Fangypoo, how's the warden?" He shouted over the rap music that he had blaring from the van's speakers.

Fang, was the nickname I'd been given years ago, back when I was in kindergarten. I had bit another kid's hand when he'd tried to steal my blocks. From that day on, the teacher had made it his little joke to call me Fang. All the other teachers in my old elementary school had picked up on it too, and eventually the name just stuck.

I opened the passenger side door of the van, and got in beside Iggy, letting the door close with a soft click. " Ya know, the same as usual. She still can't get your name right"

With a bemused snort, Iggy shook his head of blonde hair, and put the van into drive. We headed off to our ever so dreadful high school. I hate school, with a passion. It was amazingly boring, and all the teachers have a stick up their ass. The only thing I even somewhat liked about it, was the fact that Iggy and I were two of the most popular guys at the school, which meant more fun. Why does this make things funner? Honestly, I can't really explain it, it just is.

"We could always just ditch today," Iggy suggested as we neared the school.

I definitely wanted to do that. To be honest, I wasn't feeling the greatest. My stomach felt like I had drank a vat of acid, and I myself felt like I hadn't slept in months. Then again, both factors probably had something to do with the fact that I hadn't eaten much in weeks, and sleep had been a foreign concept for the past few months.

I was totally up for skipping school, but... "Can't dude, I've got a science test." That I hadn't studied for, because I'd had to go to some fancy dinner with my mom. The whole thing had ended up being a bunch of parents there bragging about their kids, and having a "My kid is better then yours" contest. _Wonderful_.

Iggy nodded understandingly, and pulled into the schools parking a lot

Once he parked in the absolute worst possible place he could find, I grabbed my bag, and speed walked toward the school, waving a quick good-bye to Iggy. Naturally, we had arrived with only 3 minutes to get to our classes. I had science first, which meant if I was late, would eat my hand, and I'd get an automatic fail on the test.

Luckily, our school was small and easy to navigate. The whole school was just one giant square, so if you got lost all you had to do was figure out what floor your class wad on, and walk around all four hallways until you found your class. A good set up for people like me, who couldn't be bothered to learn the location of everything by heart.

It took me exactly 2 minutes to find the science room, and 1 minute of panting for air after that, to decide that I was pathetic.

2 minutes of running, and I was winded? What the frack? And this is why I was no longer the schools track star.

gave me a look that said "sit down, and take the freaking test"

So I reluctantly, did just that.

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><p>"Faaaaannnngg, are you even listening to what I'm saying?" Screeched the "lovely" Lissa.<p>

I looked up at her, from across the table, where I'd promptly zoned out. Lissa was pretty, if you like girls who felt the need to walk around half naked all day. Her eyes were a dull shade of green, and her hair was wavy, long, and red... Nothing special there. Though I did have a slight weakness for redheads, just not this one. To put it simply, Lissa is majorly annoying.

"No?" I responded.

Lissa made a "_hmphing" _sound, before launching into how absolutely dreadful her day has been. I _really_ don't understand what made her think I actually cared.

I glanced helplessly at Iggy, who just snickered and shrugged. Yup, great friend, that Iggy is.

We were sitting at our usual table in the caf, with a bunch of other people who were considered "popular".

"And then, after I totally broke a nail in P.E, that Maximum chick, totally like, threw a basket ball at my head, and, it hit my nose. So I was like, bleeding everywhere, and I looked like complete tool!" she complained.

_Maybe that's because you are a complete tool, _I thought, before dropping my head onto the table, and using my arms as a pillow.

What can I say, I was tired as hell, and didn't have the patience to deal with the red haired tool.

Lissa obviously took the hint, and turned her attention to someone else, leaving me with the wonderful gift of silence. That was, until Iggy decided he had something to say "Hey, didn't you and Max used to be best friends?"

I gave Iggy a sparing look , before answering "ya, she's pretty cool."

It was true, me and Max _had_ been best friends. We'd lived next to each other, and had sleepovers, told each other secrets, and had this weird connection to each other, to a point were we could almost read each others minds.

The friendship had ended, when my dad died, and mom had decided that we needed to move to a different house. As our old one held to many memories.

So, you're probably thinking "well why did that end the friendship, if you were still going to the same school".

Well, it was that day, that my mom also decided that Max was an "unsuitable" friend for her "perfect" son. That day, was also the day I'd started ding everything I could to make sure I wasn't even close to perfect.

I miss Max, but we're both so different now, I don't know if rebuilding our friendship is a possibility.

" You okay man?" Iggy asked, making me realize that I had once again zoned out.

I frowned, " No, not really. I actually think I'm just gonna ... Go." Oh yeah, I was definitely going, the scent of the cafeteria food, was making me feel sick.

Iggy shot me a worried look and nodded " want me to drive you to your house?"

I considered it, but my house was only a 10 minute walk from the school; No need to make Iggy miss school.

"I'm good" I muttered, before standing up, and turning to leave the caf.

That's when it happened, when my life totally changed.

A sudden overwhelming dizziness overtook me, causing the world to swirl into a colourful blur.

I heard people calling my name, or atleast, I think I did.

Then, I passed out.

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><p>I don't really know how long I was out, just that I wish I hadn't woken up.<p>

I didn't know where I was, just that everything was uberly white. The ceiling, the walls, my bed, the creepy ass plastic dress thing I was wearing. _How the hell did I end up in that?_

Then, I noticed the overwhelming chemical smell the place had, and the IV hat was sticking out of my arm. Which meant I was in the hospital...? _The hell?_

Passing out at school one minute, waking up in the hospital the next.

"Hey, Nick, how are you feeling?"

Came a voice from a corner of the room.

I looked over, and saw it was my mom, her hair a tangled mess, and silent tears running down her cheeks.

She hadn't cried since dad died. There was no way this was good.

"Why am I here?"

Such a simple question, and yet, it caused my mom to exhale a shaky breath, a pained look crossing her face. "The doctor will be here soon.." she swallowed " He'll explain... What's ...wrong."

Yup, definitely not good.

Knowing that I wouldn't get a decent answer from her, I retreated into my head. I _needed_ an answer. Not knowing why I was here, why my mom was freaking _crying_, made me want to rip my hair out in frustration, and nervousness.

I think I stopped breathing when the door was swung open, and who I assumed was the doctor walked in. He was dressed in white, which matched his greying hair, and pale blue eyes.

He glanced at a a clipboard, before looking up at me with a smile. "Hello, Nick. I'm doctor Ott How are you feeling?"

_Why does everyone keep asking me that?_

_"_ Fine. I just want to know why I'm here" I replied, trying to keep the desperation out of my voice. "Please, just tell me"

The doctor, Mc. What-his-face, glanced at me, before looking at my mom, who nodded and stood up. "I-I need to use the bathroom" She turned towards the door. " I'll be back really soon, honey."

I knew she really didn't have to used the bathroom. She just didn't want me to see her cry more then she was.

Shaking my head, I looked at the doctor again. " Can you tell me now?"

He nodded grimly. "While you were...out, we did some tests. Mainly blood tests. Now, before you freak out because we ran tests without your consent, please understand that we _did_ have your mothers permission. And, as you are not yet a legal adult, we took your mothers permission over yours."

I nodded, not really caring about any of that. I just wanted to know what was going on.

"The tests came back as positive...for Leukemia"

_What?_ I couldn't believe what I'd just heard. Positive, for leukemia? "B-But How?"

"You have a slower progressing form of the disease, you've probably had for a few years, but symptoms have only started to really arise now."

Shock, that's the easiest way to express what I was feeling then. Cancer, I had cancer. Blood cancer, too.

"We can stop it, right? Chemotherapy or that radiation thing?" I choked out .

He shook his head "The cancer, has already progressed quite far. We could try Chemo therapy, but the chances of it working are slim. It may be best if you just live the...rest... Of you life, as normally as possible. But it's your choice."

No, he couldn't have really just told me that there was no chance I'd survive this. That I could either take chemo, with a pathetically small chance of it working, and feel like crap until I die. Or, not take chemo, not even try to cure myself, but not feel as crappish as the chemo would make me feel. This couldn't be happening, and yet, it was.

I closed my eyes "How long?"

There was a long pause " We think... 13-14 months."

A year. A year and one, maybe two months, was all I had left.

I wouldn't spend it in a hospital, refused to. No, I would do everything I'd ever wanted to do in life, in 13 months.

Turning to the doctor, I said " I just want out of here"

I think I finally got that saying, "Life is the shortest thing you'll ever do"

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><p>They let me out the next day. I think my mom tried to fight them on it, thought that they should keep me longer. They told her there was no point, unless I wanted to start chemo sessions, staying in the hospital would be a waste of my time.<p>

They gave her a bottle of pills, and told her I should take one a day. I didn't here what they were for, didn't care.

We drove home, in a silence that was neither awkward, or comfortable.

When we got to our house, I crept up to my room. Mom had told me I didn't have to go to school today. I wasn't going to argue. If I was being honest with myself, I wasn't ready to go back to school. I didn't know what I'd tell Iggy, what to tell everyone. I didn't think I'd be able to go there, and act like everything was fine, like I didn't have little more then a year to live.

So, I stayed home, and did nothing, and mom went to work, claiming that she's be back at 8.

I wonder if my mom cared that I was going to die soon. Probably not, considering that she's always strived to have a flawless kid. Now, that was impossible, I had cancer, an incurable disease, a major flaw.

So, I stayed home all day, sat on the couch, and watched old cartoons, like "The looney Tunes," and "The Flinstones."

At 7, though, I got bored. I went up stairs to my room, and powered up my laptop. Checking my e-mail, I saw that my inbox was flooded with Facebook notifications. Most asked if I was ok, or inquired about what had happened on Monday. I guess people were worried.

After responding to some of the messages, I browsed around the internet for a bit. I stumbled across one site, called "Tumblr," and decided to start a blog, I don't know why, I guess I just felt like it.

I titled it "Fang's Blog," and proceeded to write my first post.

**My name, is Fang, and I have cancer. I found out yesterday, and they say I have about a year left.**

**I could've taken treatment, but they say it wouldn't have helped, that it's already to late.**

**I know, I'm pathetic. I'm not even trying to fight it, but...**

**I don't know. I really don't know why I'm not trying.**

**I think I've just given up.**

I ended the post there, not entirely sure why I even posted it, and flopped down on my bed.

The next thing I new, I was asleep.

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><p>I woke up the next morning, and decided to go to school. Not because I like school, and miss being there, or anything crazy like that, but because it was a "normal" thing to do.<p>

I took a shower, got dressed, and thumped down the stairs, expecting to find my mom sitting in the kitchen. Instead, I was greeted with a note, next to the note, was the bottle of pills the doctor had given my mom.

I scanned the Note:

_Hey, Nick._

_I had to leave early, sorry. You don't have to go to school if you're not up to it. The doctor explained how you're probably going to be a little more... Tired, then most people. If you do go to school, I don't want you to pushing yourself to hard._

_Take one of the pills on the bottle._  
><em>The doctor says it'll help.<em>

_Love, _  
><em>Mom<em>

_Yup, that's my mom for you. Wouldn't even_ consider calling into work sick, and spending some time with her dying son. Whatever.

I decided to disregard the pills. I'd always hated taking any form of medicine, no need to start liking it now.

Iggy probably thought I was skipping again today, and therefore didn't show up at my house to give me a ride. I was to lazy to text the guy, so I walked to school.

It took a good 15 minutes, considering the pace I was walking at, and that it was raining, big cool drops of water, I did eventually get there.

I paused outside the school doors, worried about what it would be like when I went inside. Did the teachers know? Did the students? Did anyone know about the disease that was festering inside of me? And how would they act if they did?

I almost scared myself into not going, 'cause you know, I'm a pussy like that. But then , the kinda scary thing that is Iggy showed up.

" Holy, Fang! Dude, I thought you were dead! I mean, you fainted, and then your mom came and picked you up, and then I didn't see or here from you... Until now!"

Ugh, I still can't believe I'd fainted in front of the whole school. "Ya , I'm fine."

Iggy grinned, grabbed my black, sweater clad arm, and pulled me into the school.

Maybe this living like normal thing would be easier then I'd thought.

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><p>I was wrong, about the "living being easy" thing, totally and utterly wrong. In every class I went to, the teacher this sympathetic look, and told me they were sorry. I guess that means they knew.<p>

Atleast, the students didn't. Not one of them had given me a "look", or told me how sorry they are. Which, I guess is a good thing.

The worst part, though, was that by lunch, I felt pathetic. Pathetic in a " totally, and utterly weak" kind of way. It sucked. All's I wanted to do, was sleep. But, I was at school, and doing so would make me look like a little girl.

So, instead I skipped lunch, went outside, and sat under a tree, beside some random chic who was sitting there drawing something.

I didn't sit there because of the girl, I sat there because she was sitting under the only tree on campus, and I wanted something to rest my back against.

Inhaling the cool air, I closed my eyes, and started to drift asleep.

I think I almost fell asleep, until someone shifted beside me, and said "Fang?"

I opened my eyes, and lazily examined the girl beside me.

She was pretty, dirty blonde hair, that fell in soft waves down her back, and beautiful chocolate brown eyes.

Her body wasn't to bad either

"Whaaa?" O yeah, I was smooth.

" Uhh, it's me, Max."

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><p><strong>AN: Ok, well that chapter sucked. But, it'll get better, I swear. If I continue with this :**

**This was a random idea, inspired partially by the songs "Feeling Small", by Marianas Trench, and "Dying To Live Again" by Hedley. And, partially by my grandpa, who also had cancer, and was given the choice to try CT or just live normally for the small remainder of his life. He chose to **_**not**_ **get CT, and ended up living 2 years longer then expected.**

**If no one likes it though, I'll take it down :p**

**Sorry for my horrible grammar :/**

**R&R?**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** **ok, so I'm going to start putting what the date is in the story, at the beginning of every chapter. This is just to help me keep track of the timeline, and so you'll know when I've done a time skip.**

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.<strong>

_Date: Thursday October 2nd, _

_(date in the story, not the date in real life)_

**Fang**

"It's me, Max"

I looked at the girl for a second, trying to register what she'd just said. There was no way that she was Max. Or atleast, not _the_ Max, the Max I used to be best friends with.

That Max, had been a slightly awkward looking 13 year old, with gangly legs, short messy hair, and a body that was slightly to thin.

This Max, though, was beautiful. Perfect, long legs, Long sun streaked hair, with a body that most girls would kill for.

The only feature on her that had stayed the same, were her eyes. Which, I guess made sense. Considering that eyes weren't really into the whole spontaneous change thing.

"You look different" was the first response that slipped from my mouth.

Max rolled her eyes and tapped her pencil against her sketch book. " Ya, that tends to happen when people get older. "

_Get older._ Something I'd never really get the chance to do. On the bright side, that meant I'd die young, and beautiful. On the not so bright side, that meant I'd never go to college, get married, have children. Little things I hadn't realized I'd wanted until now.

"Fang? You still there?"

I shook my head, trying to clear it of all thought revolving around my death, which, mind you, wasn't as easy as it sounds, and turned my attention back to Max. "Ya I'm here. I just zoned. Probably because of how boring you are" I joked.

She snorted, " I'll have you know that I'm a very non boring person. I can eat 30 cookies in one sitting, blow up a toaster, and burn water, does _that_ sound boring to you_?_"

Oh yeah, it was definitely the same Max. Even when Max was 13, she had an unhealthy addiction to chocolate chip cookies, and was majorly impaired when it came to cooking.

" No you're right" I muttered, "You're a very "special" person" I finished, putting air quotes around the word "special."

This earned me a tiny smile from Max, as she closed, and set her sketch book on the ground , before coming to sit directly beside me.

" You look different to, Fang. But you haven't really changed much. Your personality, I mean"

"Yeah" I said quitely,"you too"

It was true. I'd always thought that if I ever talked to Max again, it would just be awkward. I mean, It's not like you can not talk to someone for four years, and just expect them to be the exact same person , when you do talk to them again.

And yet, here I was talking to Max, like our friendship had never ended in the first place. It was nice.

"I don't know if that's a compliment or not" Max replied honestly.

I simply closed my eyes, and nodded; my way of saying it was, in fact, a compliment.

We talked like that, for a few more moments, until the bell rang.

Ugh, more school.

Max groaned, seemingly as excited about school as I was, and made no move to get up. "That bell" she hissed " is the bane of my existence"

My thoughts exactly. " Do you maybe wanna just leave?" I asked, before I could stop myself.

" Definitely" She replied with a smile " but wouldn't your mom freak if you skipped school to hang out out with me? I could " corrupt you brain, and lead you down a bad path"

I smirked as she mimicked the exact words my mom had used to describe Max 4 years ago.

Considering that I had about a year left of life, and she'd even suggested that I stay home today, I didn't really think she'd care.

"Nah. Besides, I'm done with caring about what my mom thinks"

That, was when I decided that from that day on, 'til the day I died, I was done with caring about what anyone thinks, done with following orders.

If I only have 13 months left, I might as well have fun with them.

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><p>" Holy crap! Fang stop it, you're going to get us kicked out" Max whispered furiously at me, though she was smiling while she did.<p>

We had, as a matter of fact, ditched school, and decided to go to the mall and watch a movie.

I thanked god the the mall was only a couple minutes away from the school, and that movies involved sitting down. I still wasn't doing the best energy wise, and I found that sitting down helped a little. I had also discover that, even though I didn't have an overly large appetite, eating a little also helped. Although popcorn probably wasn't the healthiest choice.

Anyways, most of the movies that had been playing, where romantic comedies, or something stupid like that. So, we had decided to see "The Lorax", and every time the orange fluffy thing was on screen, I'd start clapping loudly. Partially because that thing is just cool, but mostly because the amount of people who got pissed off by it amused me.

"C'mon, Max, live a little" I whispered back.

She glared at me "That's not living. That's being an idiot, who's going to get us kicked out of the movie theatre"

I shrugged nonchalantly, but decided to stop, as it seemed that Max was actually interested in the movie.

Yup, a 17 year completely captivated by a movie.

Then again, this is Max we're speaking about. Other wise known as the person who can blow up a toaster.

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><p>"OK, that was the best movie ever!" Cried Max, after we'd left the theatre.<p>

"It was OK" I mumbled, as we walked aimlessly around the malls, examining the ever so "creative" window displays.

Max gave me a sideways glance " You fell asleep halfway through" She reminded me.

I scowled, and rolled my eyes, even though she was right.

I stopped to look at the colourful display for a tattoo shop. I'd always wanted a tattoo, ever since my dad showed me his, when I was 7. His had just been a series of Celtic looking knots, and swirls, with absolutely no direction, what so ever, that covered the expanse of his back.

When he had died, I'd wanted one even more, one that was a replica of the ones he had had, but covering my arm instead of my back.

Of course, my mom had completely put a stop to that. According to her, tattoos were absolutely horrible. I knew that the real reason she wouldn't let me, though, was because it would remind her of dad. She used to love his tattoos. Dad's death had changed her so much. It made me wonder what she'd do when I died.

"Faannng, are you zoning out on me again?" Came Max's voice, pulling me out of my reverie.

"Sorry" I apologized, and turned to catch up with Max, who had walked ahead of me.

We walked a little more, before I was hit with a wave of dizziness; much like the one I'd experienced two days ago. Except, this time It came accompanied by a wave of nausea. Great, I wasn't even doing chemo therapy, and I felt like puking. Cancer is messed up.

I crouched down, holding my head in my hands, trying to make the feeling go away.

I could feel Max's gaze borrowing into my back. I wondered briefly if just this gave away that I had cancer. A small part of me prayed that she'd just think I was still a little sick from Monday. I wasn't ready to have someone who wasn't my mom, or a teacher, know about my problem.

After a few seconds of crouching, and breathing in and out slowly, the nausea and dizziness slowly receded. Thank God.

Slowly, I stood up, and nervously glanced at Max, who was giving me a worried look. " Uhh are you Ok?"

She asked hesitantly.

_Not really_, I felt like saying, but instead said " Ya, I'm good. Guess I'm still getting over that flu I had Monday."

She gave me a sympathetic look " Maybe you should go home and lie down, or something " she suggested.

I nodded slightly," but um, we should hang out again... Sometime"

She nodded in agreement "Yeah, I'd like that"

Me too.

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><p>15 minutes later (give or take a few) I was flinging the front door open.<p>

The house, was quite, as per usual, except I could here a quite voice , murmuring in low tones, coming from the kitchen.

Stealthily, I walked to the kitchen, only to find my mother with a phone pressed to her ear, and back turned in my direction. Being careful, so that she wouldn't here me, I stood in the entrance way, listening to the conversation.

" And there's _nothing_ you can do? Nothing at all?" My mom asked.

There was a pause as she listened to the response . " So not even an I don't know, Bone Marrow Transplant, would help?"

Wait, bone marrow transplant? There was only one thing she could be talking about, my cancer.

"So you're telling me that there's no hope? That my son is going to... Die" she paused" in a year and 1-2 months?"

Another pause as who I assumed was the doctor responded. "Don't tell me to calm down. How would you feel if you found out that your only child has little more then a year to live? He's all I have left... I-I can't just accept that he's going to die."

With that, my mom clicked the end button, and set the phone down, before she broke into a fit of tears.

It was to much, watching her cry over me. It was also the first time she'd shown that she actually cared about me.

I quietly crept out of the kitchen, and up the stairs into my room. From there, I grabbed my laptop, only to discover that I had left it on, and on my blog of all things.

What shocked me, was that people had actually commented on my post. Quickly, I scanned through them, seeing that most of them were people telling me how sorry they are.

Then, I wrote a new post.

**Hey.**

**So, I've decided what I'm going to do.**

**I have 13 months to live. So, I'm going to make a list. A list of 13 things to do, before I die. Then, I'm going to complete everything on that list.**

**That way, when I do die, I won't have any regrets. I've only thought of a few things for the list so far. Here they are.**

**13 things to do before I die:**

**1. Get a tattoo**

**friends with Max again**

**3. Rebuild my old relationship, with my mom.**

**4. Graduate from high school**

**5.**

**6.**

**7.**

**9.**

**10.**

**11.**

**12.**

**13**

**That's all I have so far...**

I posted it, and then logged off.

I was completely serious about the list, and I will complete everything on it.

I have to, otherwise I'll feel even worse when the time comes.

I only have one life, and it's time that I start living it up.

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><p><strong>AN: Thank you guys <strong>_**so**_** much for all of the reviews, and alerts. You will never have any idea how much they mean to me.**

**I'm sorry that I don't reply to many of them, I'm not ignoring you, I just tend to only reply to ones that ask questions. But, I do love them all.**

**Anyways, I figured I should tell you that I'm basing Fang's symptoms off of my grandpa's, who had leukemia. The pills , are also something I've taken from when he was still alive. They basically just helped him a little with the energy loss thing. Once I get on to an actual computer, I'll research the disease a bit so I can write this story a little better. ( I write on my cell-phone, on mobile Microsoft word right now)**

**Also, if any of you have an idea for this story, or something to go on Fang's list **_**please**_** tell me. I would ,of course. Credit you for your idea.**

**Well that's all I have to say. **

**Sorry for my horrible grammar**

**R&R? **

**Both reviews and flames are welcomed**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**:** I own a hamster name Elephant, and a fish named Sushi, but I do not own Maximum Ride.**

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><p><em>Date: Friday October 3<em>

**Fang**

One thing I was starting to notice about my life, was that no matter how messed up the day turned out to be, mornings were _always_ the same. I guess, in a way, I was thankful for that. At least one thing in my life wasn't changing.

So, just like every other morning, I got out of bed. Which, I'll tell you now, is no easy feat. In my bed, and under the covers, was so warm and comfortable, and now, I was freezing, and far from being comfortable.

I slipped on jeans, a T-shirt, and hoodie. The pathetic thing was, that the temperature today, was so warm, that most people would be running around in shorts, and T-shirt. But, even with the sweater, I was still freezing. Stupid freaking cancer.

I grabbed my school bag, figuring that I would try this whole school thing out again. This time, though, I was determined to last the whole day. I was sick of being stopped from doing things I used to do so easily, all because of some stupid disease.

Besides, going to school would mean getting to see Max, who I wanted to spend as much time as possible with before I die. I think that's what killed me the most about the whole "be friends with Max again" thing. That even if we do end up being best friends again, it will only be for a year. It really makes me regret not talking to her sooner.

Anyways, when I went downstairs, I was surprised to find my mom standing at the bottom of the stairs, bottle of the ever so dreaded pills, in hand, looking up at me expectantly.

What surprised me more then that, was the fact that:

1. Her hair was down, hanging limply around her head.

2. She was in a T-shirt and jeans.

3. She looked like how she used to, before dad died.

"Good morning, Fang" She said simply.

I eyed her cautiously. She was dressed like a normal human, and was being nice. Something must be up. " why aren't you dressed for work?," I reply.

She pursed her lips, and started twisting the lid off of the white pill bottle, "I have the day off" She exclaimed, before shaking a simple white pill out of the bottle, and handing it to me.

I grimaced at it. My whole life, I'd been raised to think that any form of medicine, was bad. Even when I got high fevers, bad headaches, and sore throats, I hadn't been allowed any. My mom would simply say " The less unnecessary substances you put into your body, the better". Yet, here she was, insisting that I swallow a pill, that I didn't even fully understand the effects of.

My mom handed me a glass of water, I knew it was to help me get the stupid pill down.

"Just put it in your mouth, and swallow" My mom urged " It will help you"

That's what the note had said too. I, personally thought it was all bullshit. If something as strong as chemo therapy, wouldn't help me, what good was one tiny pill going to do? But, to appease my mom, I placed it on my tongue, took a swig of water, and swallowed, wrinkling my nose up at the bitter taste it left in my mouth.

I looked up at my mom, who nodded her head in approval " Good. Now , do you want anything to eat, before we go?"

Go? Go where? I hadn't actually gone anywhere with my mom in forever. She'd always been to busy with work to do anything with me, except show me off to other adults, and brag about stupid things. Like how I had mostly straight A's in school.

Maybe she regrets that now. She's ignored me for most of my life, and now , I barely even have a life. Maybe, when I die, she'll wish she'd spent more time with me.

Or, she'll use my death as a sob story to gain attention from all of her friends. Yeah, that sounds more like something she'd do.

"Where are we going" I inquired, trying not to sound as nervous as I felt.

" To the hospital"

Ya, because that makes sense. The doctor had already thoroughly explained to her that no amount of medication would help me, so why did she want to go there now?

" There not going to miraculously find a cure for me." I stated calmly.

She rolled her eyes, which, by the way, is a very un-mom like gesture. "This is a different hospital, Fang. This hospital specializes in treating cancer patients, such as yourself, and one of the doctors there says he may have something that will help you."

A cancer hospital. She was taking me to a cancer hospital.

I think, that that was the moment, that the fact that I, myself, was a cancer patient, fully sank in. Before, it had been nothing but a fact, that buzzed around in the back of my mind. Now, all that I could think, was _I'm going to a cancer hospital, because I'm a cancer patient. I'm going to die. I have cancer. I'm going to die. There's no cure. I'm going to die. Just one more year, and I'll die._

_I'm going to die._

* * *

><p>"Good morning, Miss Walker. Please, have a seat" Dr. Smith said cheerily.<p>

It was about an hour after I'd taken that horrible pill, and we were now at " Hospital, For Cancer" Yeah, that was _actually_ what the place was called. Creative, right?

When we'd first arrived, I'd been ... Well, nervous. That feeling, had turned into a deep sense of fear, as we'd walked through the hospital. Just like at the other hospital, this place looked like it had been dunked in a giant tub of white paint. That wasn't what scared me though.

As we'd walked through the hospital, trying to navigate our way to the "Leukemia" wing, we'd seen some of the patients walking around, and I'd been unable to help myself from glancing into some of the open doors.

Some of the patients, had a mechanic leg, or arm. Which I assumed meant they'd had bone cancer and had to get amputations. Most, were bald, and were walking around with an IV type thing wheeling beside them.

In some of the rooms I'd walked by, I'd seen people gripping there heads, and crying. Most rooms simply just had people lying in bed, IV's attached, and bucket beside their bed.

The worst though, was walking into the Leukemia wing, where 's office was, and seeing the patients there.

All of them, were extremely thin, and pale, dark shadows under their eyes. Hair totally missing from there head. Yet, they somehow managed to smile at me.

Then, I realized I was thinking about them as if I, myself, didn't have the disease.

Which, made me think _do I look like they do? Pale, sick, and thin?_

But now, we were sitting, with the door closed, in 's office.

Doctor Smith, was slightly odd looking. His hair was curly, and a washed out shade of red. His eyes were a pale blue, making him look a lot meaner then he was.

"And, I'm guessing this is your son, Nick?" He asked brightly.

My mom nodded and I said " I prefer to be called Fang"

My mom gave me a look that clearly said " shut up, and listen to the doctor"

Yeah, sure. Whatever.

"Very well then, Fang." said calmly, before bringing out a bundle of papers from behind his desk "I suppose you'd both like if I just moved on to Fang's problem, yeah?"

Ha, my problem. That's one way to put what the incredibly annoying disease that's cancer is.

I didn't say outloud though, and just nodded, along with my mother.

"Well, while the other hospital claimed that chemo wouldn't help, Fang. After looking at his previous blood tests, I've concluded that chemo, would, in fact give Fang another 1-2 years of life. And, who knows, by that time we may have discovered a cure for the disease."

He couldn't be serious, could he?

I looked over at my mom, who was smiling, as if the guy had just told her this would completely save me.

"That sounds great" she exclaimed, and her and the doctor launched into a big conversation about when they could start the chemo therapy, if I'd have to stay here...etc

I personally thought, that going on chemo therapy, just to get an extra year or two of life, was pointless. Absolutely pointless. Just an excuse to prolong my death, really. That was the thing, though. It didn't matter how much medication the put m on, or what they pumped into my body. None of it would help, none of it would cure me, or anyone else in this place. Cancer is incurable, the only thing they can do, is stop it, cut it out, slow it down. But in the end, it wouldn't matter. I'm going to die one day Anyways, sure, I didn't expect that day to come so soon, but it's not like there was anything I can do to stop it from happening.

"I don't want to"

My moms head snapped in my direction, and the doctors eyes opened wide.

I took a deep breathe " I'm going to die in a year. I can't change that. You, can't change that. Chemo, could only give me another year, so I won't do it. Mom, can we please just go home?"

She didn't say anything, just got up slowly, and exited the room, gesturing for me to come with her.

For once, she did what I asked, and just drove us home.

* * *

><p>"Wait, so why weren't you at school again?" Max asked for the millionth time.<p>

Once we'd gotten home, I'd looked through the texts on my phone, surprised to see that there was one from Max, asking if I wanted to hang out with her at park by the school.

I told my mom I was leaving, and that I'd be back in about an hour. I figured it would be OK, considering that even though I was a little more sleepy then usual, I felt really good, compared to yesterday. Maybe that's what the pill was for.

Max and I, were lying side by side in the grass, looking at the slowly sinking sun.

"My mom wanted to spend time with me" I said. Not a total lie, all things considered

"Huh. Well, of course she'd want to spend time with her super special son" She replied, ripping some of the grass out of the ground, before sprinkling it on my face.

For some unfathomable reason, this cause me to sneeze, sending little green blades everywhere.

"I thought you were the special one here" I replied, after I'd finished sneezing.

Max, who apparently thinks that sneezing is hilarious, was to busy laughing like a mad woman to answer me.

I just shook my head and smiled, and after Max stopped laughing , it was completely quite.

"Fang? Why did we stop hanging out again?"Max asked suddenly

"Because, my mom thinks I'm to special for someone as unspecial as you?" I said with a frown.

Max snorted "Well who knows, maybe your mom is onto something. Maybe, underneath all your idiocy, there's someone who deserves to be called special"

"Nah. I don't think I was meant to be anything special. Just me" I said quietly " just, Fang, nothing special"

Maybe, that's why I was dying. Maybe I'm dying , so that someone else, someone who could change the worlds, can take my place.

Who knows, it's possible, right?

* * *

><p>Later that night, when I had gotten back home, and was changing into pyjama pants, and before I put on an old T-shirt, I looked in the mirror.<p>

It didn't take me long to realize, that the reflection I was seeing, wasn't mine.

This person, was skinny, so skinny that you could see the outlines of his ribs. He was pale too, his skin should've had an olive tone to it, but it didn't. It was just pale. Dark shadows lay under his eyes, letting the world know just how tired he was.

But his eyes, and his hair, they where mine. That boy in the mirror, I realized, was me.

I realized then, that cancer changes people.

In more ways then one.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>

**I once had to walk through a cancer hospital, to visit a family member. Scariest place I've ever been to. When I was describing what Fang was seeing, I just listed everything I 'd seen when I was there. The weird thing was, all the people there seemed happy :/**

**Thank you all, for the reviews, story alerts, and favs :)**

**I only actually saw them 2 hours ago, before I started writing the chapter. I wanted to reply to some, but I was to lazy to log in, so I'm just going to do it here.**

**FeelslikeFlying47:**

**Yes, I do know that I'm, strange :)**

**Do you mean take your idea and make a different story with it? If I did, I would credit you anyways. But, are you sure you wouldn't want to do it yourself? Because it's a really good idea, and I think that if written right, it could be a really good story :3**

**FangGirlForever: **

**Thank you, I'm glad you like it :) and yeah, I like writing sad stories.**

**FluffyBunniesAreSoCute:**

**I have to ask, how did you do that mass writing spree, in the amount of time you did it in?**

**Glass In The Trees :**

**Thanks :p I love your username.**

**Night Rider:**

**I totally will ;)**

**Music-Lover6678:**

**Thanks :)**

**And thanks to "Ari" for her song suggestion, it helped me write this chapter .**

**Anyways, If you have any ideas for this story, or Fangs list, please tell me.**

**Sorry for my grammar.**

**Reviews inspire me, and flames amuse me, so both are welcomed.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride**

* * *

><p><em>Date: Saturday October 4<em>

**Max ('cause we need a little insight on her life)**

"Maaaaax, Gazzy got stuck in the tree again" Came my little sister's voice, from where I'm assuming was outside.

"Tell him to climb down" I yelled back in something that resembled a "duh" tone.

It was Saturday afternoon, and I was attempting to finish the writing of my invigorating English essay. Note the sarcasm.

In all honesty, it was a stupid essay. I was supposed to exclaim how it had been some dudes fault, that some other dude had died. How the hell was I supposed to know? The guy was only in the book for 5 pages and barely even said anything. Stupid English teacher.

Now, if you're confused, let me explain . My name is Maximum Ride, and I live with my mom, my sisters, Ella, and Angel, and my brother, Gazzy. Our dad, Jeb, lives in a hospital. No, not a hospital for cancer and stuff, a hospital for mental illness. In other words, he's crazy, in the most literal way possible.

Anyways, my mom works as a vet at her own clinic. Because she works there, and had to run the place, she wasn't home all that much. Not that she was a bad parent, or anything like that, she's just busy. Besides, when she is home, she's the best mom ever. And, she makes the best chocolate chip cookies ever. So all is forgiven

I'm the oldest, though, so when mom _is_ at work, I baby sit, Like I was right now.

I heard the pattering of little feet, before Angel, the youngest of us, appeared in the dining room, which is where I was writing.

Her blonde curls were pulled into two pigtails, which, on the six year old, looked quite adorable. She was wearing a pink dress, with flowers embroidered across the bottom.

She stopped in the door way, and looked up at me with big blue eyes. "Gazzy says he can't climb down" she stated .

Groaning, I put my pencil down, got out of my chair, and followed Angel outside.

Outside, it was bright and sunny. Big, puffy, white clouds, were floating around the sky lazily, as the sun shine down brilliantly.

Gazzy, being the idiot he is, had decided that this was perfect weather to go tree climbing. Even though, the last time he'd climbed a tree, he'd fallen out and broken his arm. This time, he'd managed to climb the highest tree he could find, as high as he could go, and was now stuck. Ugh, 8 year olds.

"Max" I heard him cry, from the branch that he was sitting on " I'm stuck"

I resisted the urge to say something along the lines of _"thank you, captain obvious"_, and instead replied with "Yeah, I know, but we're going to get you down."

I saw a flash of his spiky blonde hair, as he nodded " How? Are you going to call the firemen?"

Why in the world would I call the fire fighters? Clearly this whole being stuck in a tree thing, is messing with Gazzy's head.

"Um... I'm still thinking about that" I called back.

Gazzy moaned "But my butt is starting to hurt!"

Whoa, to much information "Keep that to yourself" I muttered, knowing that he couldn't here it.

After about 5 minutes of trying to think of a way to get him down, I had nothing. Well, nothing that wouldn't result in at least one person getting hurt.

I decided to go with one of my "safer" plans. "Ok, Gazzy, I know how to get you down" I called triumphantly.

"What is it?" he asked in response.

I walked up to the base of the tree, and positioned myself in front of Gazzy, arms wide. "You're going to jump, and then, I'm going to catch you" I exclaim brightly.

"Max?" he said

"Yeah?" I replied, expecting him to tell me how brilliant my idea was.

He shifts slightly in the tree, seemingly trying to get comfortable, "That's a horrible idea"

_Well then_...

"Fine then" I grumble, feeling slightly deflated, not really seeing why it was such a bad idea.

Just then, my phone decided to ring, blasting out some stupid ringtone that Ella had shoved on it fished it out of the the pockets of my shorts, and looked at the caller ID. I swore, that if it was Sam, calling to be all creepy and stalkerish, I was going to eat his hand . That way, he'd never be able to dial my number again.

Lucky for Sam, it was Fang that was calling. Fang, who I'd only recently started talking to again, and already felt closer to then I did anyone else mean sure he had been sick these past few days, and looked a little thinner, and paler then I remember him being, but he was still the same Fang I'd known 4 years ago.

I clicked the faintly glowing, green "Talk" button , and pressed the phone to my ear.

"Hey" I said.

"Yo" he replied, "What's up?"

Such a typical response, for boys. "Gazzy is stuck in a tree" I started "and I can't get him down"

I wondered briefly if Fang even remembered Gazzy, or Angel, and Ella for that matter. The last time he'd seen them, Gazzy'd been 4, Angel was 2, and Ella was 11 ( she's 15 now)

I heard him laugh a little, which made me roll my eyes, assuming that he did, in fact, remember Gazzy.

"Why don't you just call 911, and get the fire-fighters to get him down?" he suggested.

OK, what's with everyone suggesting the I call a bunch of firemen up, to get my brother out of a freaking, non burning, tree?

"How the hell will that help?" I responded, trying, and failing, to keep the annoyance out of my voice

Fang sighed "Because they have huge ladders, that could probably get your brother out of the tree"

_Oh. _Yup, I totally hadn't thought of it that way.

"uhh right. So I guess I should go do that... I'll call you back?"

"Yeah, now go get your brother out of the tree"

I did just that.

* * *

><p>An hour later, after getting weird looks from this one fireman, and even weirder looks from my mom(who had come home early), the firemen, had gotten Gazzy out of the tree.<p>

They had then proceeded to lecture the poor kid on why he shouldn't be climbing trees. Blah, I hate lectures, so naturally I ducked out, and went up to my room to call Fang.

"Hey" I said cheerfully when he picked up "Gazzy's out of the tree"

There was a pause, and a sound like a speeding car, before he answered "Oh, that's good." He sounded kind of distracted, and out of it.

"Fang? Where are you"

Another pause.

"The cemetery. I wanted to visit my dad..."

_Oh._

"Do you want me to go with you?" I asked, though I felt stupid right after. He probably wanted to be alone, and unbothered by someone as annoying as me.

So maybe that's why I was shocked when his answer was "Could you?"

"Ya, I'll be there in 10"

**Fang **

Someone, please explain to me why I was doing this.

It was such a stupid, _stupid_ idea. Visiting my dad's grave, that is.

I hadn't been there since the funeral, where I'd watched them lower is casket into the ground. Then people had thrown dirt on it, which when I was 13, and didn't really understand what was happening, had angered me. Later that day, I'd cried for the first time since I was 4. We moved a week after that.

I shouldn't be out here anyways, ever since I'd woken up this morning, I'd felt like I was going to throw. Though, I never did. Mom had suggested that I not go out today, just in case.

But, all day I hadn't been able to stop thinking about my dad. About the time we went fishing, and I dropped his sunglasses into the water, or the days we'd spend in the basement , where he'd taught me how to play guitar. Even the time when we'd tried to make milkshakes, but couldn't find a lid for the blender, so we'd gone without one. The huge mess of chocolate ice-cream we had to clean up afterwards.

The day that a police officer showed up at our door. Saying he was sorry, that my dad had been hit by a drunk driver, that he was dead.

Just like I would be soon.

Eventually, without even realizing what I was doing, I walked here, to his grave.

Now, I was standing in front of the tomb stone. It was made of black marble, and had the words _Aiden Walker: loving father ,and husband._

That was it. My dad, the person who had taught me everything I know, had died, and the only words on his grave stone, were those. So unmeaningful. He deserved so much more.

And that was it, I started shaking, and couldn't stop. Even with Max standing there, right beside me, telling me that everything was going to be OK. I couldn't stop, couldn't get a hold of myself. I felt so empty, so broken, and it was all to much.

My dad dying, me dying, cancer, one year left, leaving to much left unsaid, to much left undone. It was to much. Why, for once in my life, couldn't the world just leave me alone?

I didn't understand.

Eventually, I managed to stop, and just drop to my knees beside the grave.

"Max?" I ask quietly

"ya?" she sounded worried

I took a deep breathe " When I die, make sure that they bury me here. Right next to him"

She let out a weird sound, that kind of made her sound like she was choking. "Fang, don't talk about that. You're only 17, you still have a lot of your life left. So don't."

I laughed, a strange emotionless laugh. Because, that was the thing. I was 17, I _should_ have a lot of time left, but I didn't.

That's the way life works, though. Some people have it all. Those people, don't realize how lucky they are. Then, there are other people, who slowly get everything that matters taken away. Then, when there's nothing left for life to take, it goes after you.

Life, is a disease.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong>

**I know, it was a filler, and Fang's OOC and then there's a bunch of other problems with it, but , to put it simply, I don't care.**

**Thank you guys all so much for the Story alerts, favs, and reviews. **

**I'm just going to respond to the reviews here again.**

**Fluffy:**

_Comfy chairs are the best :)_

**FeelslikeFlying:**

_Oh ok :) if you want, when I have the time, I could write up something for the first chapter, and send it to you. Then you can tell me what you do and don't like. If I did make your idea a story, would you have any title suggestions ? I have one in mind, but your idea's would come before mine with this story ._

**AzianDemigod16: **_Thank you :) but I named the story after song it was inspired by, so I can't take credit for the title :p_

**FangGirlForever:**

_Hehe, thanks :)_

**Vampire Ride:**

_I'm glad you like it ._

**Music-Lover6678:**

_My grandpa died of leukemia, when I was 7, and one of my friends just recently tested positive for it :(_

**OK, so sorry for the crappy chapter and emo like fang.**

**I'm going to a concert tomorrow, for the band that wrote the song that inspired this story (Hedley) I'm super excited. Music truly is my life.**

**Sorry for my bad grammar.**

**I feel like I'm updating to fast... I should slow down :/**

**Reviews keep me motivated, and let me know that people are still reading.**

**Flames, are beautiful.**

**Both are welcomed.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

_Date: Wednesday November 1 (Time skip )_

**Fang**

Therapy

That's what cancer had led to. Not chemo therapy, but sit down and talk about your feelings therapy. Ew.

It was November, a month after I'd found out about my cancer. I hadn't gotten any better, and I guess I knew that I wouldn't. At the same time, though, I think that a part of me had hoped, that maybe I could get better, that the cancer wouldn't kill. Wishful thinking, right?

I still went to school, just to keep the "normal" facade going, and to see Iggy, and Max. Especially Max. I think, that it was safe to say that Max and I were friends again. She'd started hanging out with Iggy and I, immediately taking a liking to Iggy, and we'd hang out at the mall, or park after school.

There were alot of days, though, that I was to weak to go to school, or do anything but sleep all day. I hadn't even been able to do anything on Halloween.

I was also starting to look worse. So much so, that I was surprised that people hadn't guessed it yet. I asked my mom once, when we were eating supper, if it was as noticeable as I thought it was. She told me, that if she didn't know I had cancer, It really just looked like I'd lost weight.

The thing that she failed to mention, was just how much weight I'd lost.

Then, there was the teachers at school, who insisted on being nice to me, and giving me shortcuts , all the time. Often, they'd pull me aside and say stuff like "You don't have to do the science project if you don't want to" or "You can take all the time you need to write that essay, Fang, no rush." It drove me absolutely nuts.

Anyways, it was Wednesday, and mom had this brilliant idea to take me to this group therapy thing, for people with diseases and stuff. Which, is where I was right now.

I already hated it.

When I'd first walked in, there'd been this overly perky girl sitting at a table , covered in a bunch of unpeeled whit stickers, that people used for labelling things.

She had short blonde hair, pulled into a ridiculously short side ponytail. the shirt she was wearing, was covered in a bright floral print, and her jeans were just plain blue jeans. When I walked in, her green eyes zoomed in on me, and she flashed me a smile filled with extremely white teeth.

"Hello" she twittered in an overly cheerful voice "I'm guessing your here for the group therapy session"

I nodded, rendered speechless by her fake happiness.

"Oh good" she smiled "My name is, Emma" she gestured to the name tag that had been stuck to her shirt, "And I'm the therapist"

I turned to my mom, and shot her a look that said "Please, don't make me do this"

Of course, my mom, who's oblivious to anything, and everything, I say or do, just smiled back at Emma, and said " I'm Katie, and this is my son, Nick"

Emma smiled, and wrote "Nick" down on one of her label things, before handing it to me. "Just stick that on your shirt, Nick. " she exclaimed before turning her attention to my mom."Will you be staying?" she asked politely.

Ugh, Emma was going to make me sick with all of her niceness.

"No, I actually have to leave for work. Nick, be good. when this is done, call a Taxi. I'll see you tonight. " She gave Emma one last smile, patted my arm, and walked out.

That's another thing I don't like about my mom, she always leaves me when I need her most.

* * *

><p>"Ok, thank you for sharing, Carly" Emma said about 10 minutes later, to a 12 year old who likes drawing butterflies, playing in the park, and eating ice-cream, and had been suffering from seizures for the past 5 years of her life.<p>

We , and by we I mean 15 kids with some type of disease, or disorder, had all been sat in uncomfortable blue plastic chairs, that were arranged in a circle.

Emma, had thought it was a good idea if we went around the circle, and had each person tell us a bit about themselves.

I, however think Emma is absolutely nuts. Seriously, what made her think that we'd actually want to tell people the details of our life, of our disease. I know that I definitely did not want to tell everyone that I had 12 months of life left. That wasn't exactly the kind of thing you run around telling people. Especially, people you'd only just met.

The next person to speak, was a girl, who looked like she was about 15. Her skin was a kind of mocha colour, and her hair was dark, and curly.

"Umm" she started, nervously tugging on the edge of her sleeve "My name is Monique, but I like to be called Nudge. I like clothes, and pretty things, and Justin Bieber. A few years Ago I started getting this really bad pain in my right leg, and at first I thought it was just growing pains. But, it just kept getting worse, so dad took me to the hospital, and I was diagnosed with cancer in the lower part of my right leg. so they did surgery, to cut it out but it just grew back a year later. So, now they're going to amputate my whole leg." She gasped, drawing in a large amount of air, as she'd just said that all in one go. With no paused, at all. I was impressed.

At the same time, though, I felt bad for her. She seemed like the kind of girl, who liked to dress up, and wear skirts. Got to parties, and do things like cheerleading, and dancing.

Now though, she'd have a mechanic leg. I couldn't see her wanting to show it off, by wearing skirts, and everything would probably be a little more difficult to.

Then again, maybe it wouldn't be a problem for her. Maybe, she'd be the next Terry Fox, but instead of running across Canada, she could cheerlead across the world. Who knows, weirder things have happened.

"Thank you for sharing, Nudge" Chirped Emma, before turning to face me.

Oh crap, I hadn't even realized that I was sitting beside Nudge, which meant I was next, damn, damn, damn, damn...

"Uhh...I'm,Fang. " I paused, and swallowed nervously "My dad died 4 years ago... because of some idiot who hit him." Crap, why had I said that? I never tell anyone how my dad died. I barely even told people that he's died in the first place.

Stupid therapy.

"And one month ago... I found out I have Leukemia. I've had it for a few years... I just didn't know. " Ok, Fang, now would be a good time to stop talking, I told myself.

.Emma smiled, that annoyingly bright smile of hers, and said simply "Thank you for sharing, Fang."

I resisted the urge to flip her the bird. Did it make her happy, to know that I was suffering, that little by little, day by day, my life was slipping away. That soon, I'll be nothing, but a body rotting away underground.

Or maybe, she just didn't care at all. After all, she was being paid for this. Maybe, this was her strategy. Listen to a bunch of kid's sob stories, and smile and nod, pretend you actually give a damn, and get paid for it.

Whatever it was, I knew that Emma, and people like Emma, could care less about anyone but themselves.

Except, that's just the way all humans are, even the ones that do care. Because, if people really did care, we wouldn't need fundraisers for cancer research. No, the research, and technology needed for it, would be given for free . Instead though, we use that money to build things like computers and I-pods.

We're selfish. But that's OK, because it's just basic human nature ,right?

_Exactly._

**Max**

Fang was scaring me.

I mean, he didn't show up at school today, which I guess was normal for Fang. Then, when I'd gotten out of school, I'd found him standing in he parking lot waiting for me.

He hadn't said anything, just grabbed my arm, and starting pulling me towards the mall. I knew something was wrong, though, I could see it in his eyes.

Once we'd gotten to the mall, he let go of my arm, and marched off to the tattoo shop, which, I guess wasn't a big surprise, as he'd wanted a tattoo since he was 7.

He disappeared into there before coming back out, 30 minutes later, an actual smile plastered on his face. Yeah, I was scared too.

so then, he dragged me off to this really awesome ice cream shop, right inside the mall.

I swear, that any flavour you could think of, they had.

We sat down at one of their bright red booths, and I ordered a bowl of ice-cream, with five different flavours in it. Fang, however, just ordered a vanilla milkshake, that he was reluctantly taking small sips of.

This is where we were, just chilling out, and eating ice-cream, when Fang decides to go all emo on me.

"Max, what would you do if you only had a year left to live?" He asks simply.

Excuse me?

"I...um What?"

He shook his head, and suddenly his milkshake became very interesting. "Nothing.. I was just... wondering."

Oooook then.

"Max, your my best friend, you know that, right?"

Right, clearly someone's been watching to much "Oprah".

"Ya, you to. But uhh could you stop with all this morbid talk?"

He sighed "Ya, sure"

"Fang, look at me" I said sternly, waiting until he was, in fact, looking me straight in the eyes." Stop talking about death and stuff, Ok? your 17, and healthy. You don't need to worry about your death until your like 80"

Still looking me straight in the eyes, he replied " No, Max, I do have to worry about it now, before it's to late"

That's when I realized, that their might be something wrong with Fang.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: so ya, Max is a little oblivious.<strong>

**Thanks for the reviews, alerts, and favs :D**

**fear-me123**

_Keep up the badassery:)_

_I'm glad you like it._

_I won't be able to update as fast when school starts again on Monday, though._

**Fluffy:**

_I want your teacher D:_

**Vampire Ride:**

_She'll find out soon enough ;)_

_And Gazzy was worried Max wouldn't catch him, and he'd get hurt. Not that he'd hurt Max_

**AzianDemigod:**

_It kind of contradicts itself a little :)_

_That sucks :/ I'm going to guess that you live in Canada? 'cause that's where they're touring._

**Ok, guys. I gotta go to le concert now :p**

**If you have any ideas for this story let me know.**

**Here's a question for you guys, if you answer it, I'll answer next chapter:**

**What would you do, if you had one year left to live?**

**ok, bye.**

**Both reviews, and flames, are welcomed.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

* * *

><p><em>Date: Saturday November 4<em>

**Fang**

" Faaaannnng, you have 3 seconds to wake up, before I cut your nose off and make a nose less freak! Like Voldemort!"

I rolled over in my bed, to see Iggy standing right beside the damn thing, looking as Iggy like as ever. Naturally, my first thought, when I woke up that Saturday, was _why the hell is Iggy in my house?_

Slowly, I forced myself into a sitting position, blankets falling away from me as I did, and glared at Iggy. Or at least, I tried to. My vision was still slightly blurry from sleep, and it took a few seconds of blinking repeatedly before I could focus them again.

"Iggy" I said, after I'd finished my blinking fest, "what the hell are you doing in my room?"

Iggy smiled that exceedingly annoying smile of his "Your mom is at work, and you guys don't lock your door. So, I let myself in." He said it so simply; as if it was something he did every day. Sometimes, I really do question the state of his mental health.

"I didn't ask how you got in, I asked why you're here" I asked, slightly annoyed. I had a slowly growing headache, which, for once, didn't have anything to do with the cancer. I should be proud of myself.

"Oh, well I was at the mall, with, Max, and we saw this add thing for this amusement park, that opened like a week ago" he stopped to take a breath ", and so because it's the weekend, we've decided to go!"

I blinked, yet again, "There's an amusement park open in November?"

He rolled his pale blue eyes "Of course. Don't ask such ridiculous questions Fangypoo"

I arched an eyebrow at being called "Fangypoo". Sure, Iggy was always calling me ridiculous variations of my name, but Fangypoo was new. Oh well, it's just part of Iggy's "charm", and admittedly, one of the thing's I'd regret leaving behind. Along with Max, my guitar, chocolate, the smell of rain, even my mom, among other things.

"Now," Iggy continued "I'm going to go and wait outside with Max, while you get dressed, 'cause god know I don't want to see you naked, then we're all going to go and have fun!" He exclaimed, and then promptly marched out of the door, before I could argue. Ugh, there are some things Iggy says, that make me want to punch him in the face.

After the door shut behind him, I pushed myself out of my bed. I stood still for a second, waiting to see if the ever so hated wave of dizziness, nausea, or both, would come, as they sometimes did after just waking up. I hated cancer for this reason more than any other. I could up with the fact that it made me look like a zombie, accept the fact that it was killing me little by little, day by day, if it weren't for how weak, and useless it could make me. I _hated_ how I used to be on almost every sports team at the school, but now I was even excused for gym, that I used to wake up at 5 AM every morning, and now waking up any time before 12, was a great feat for me. I hated that it had taken away my life, before I'd even died.

I pulled on my usual black attire, and walked downstairs to the kitchen.

Pouring myself a glass of water, I considered taking one of the pills mom had been forcing me to take every morning. I still couldn't see the point in taking them, as it wasn't like they were going to cure me. The only good thing about them was that they made me feel slightly less bad. In other words, they were totally useless. I grabbed a pen from the cup on the counter my mom tended to keep them in, and scribbled down a quick note for my mom. Just in case she got home before I did, though I didn't really expect her to.

I stuck it to the fridge with a magnet, and went outside to join up with Max and Iggy.

Regardless of the fact that something inside of me was screaming at me to just stay home, I went.

I should really listen to my instincts more.

* * *

><p>"Did he really just….?" I asked.<p>

"Yeah" Max responded.

I shook my head in disbelief, as Iggy downed yet another hot dog. "But that his ….. What's he at now?"

Max frowned slightly "I think that's his 10th"

I grimaced "That can't be healthy"

We'd only been at the amusement park for about two hours, and already Iggy had managed to find, and do, the most idiotic thing he could find. That idiotic thing, just so happened to be seeing how many hot dogs he could eat without barfing. Even though the guy was starting to look slightly green, he still kept going.

I felt a slight pressure in my side, and turned to see that Max had nudged me in the stomach. "Do you want to leave before he… you know?" she asked, a hint of desperation in her eyes. I couldn't really blame her, though, seeing Iggy throw up a million hot dogs was definitely not on my list of things to do today.

I nodded, and we started to slowly walk away from where Iggy was sitting at a picnic table, right by a hotdog stand. He was so intrigued by his hot dogs; it was obvious he could care less about what Max and I did. Besides, if he had to find us later, all's he had to do was text.

We started just walking aimlessly around, talking about stupid things like our favorite bands, how stupid Iggy could be sometimes, and whether or not our art teachers nose was fake or not. It was nice, not being left to suffocate in the blaring silence of my own morbid thoughts.

"and that, is why I am no longer allowed in the kitchen unsupervised" Max finished her story of how she'd "accidently" stuck a fork in her toaster, while it was still on, which somehow caused the thing to blow up.

"Wait, if your toaster exploded, with you standing right beside it, then how did you not end up dead, or in the hospital?" What? I thought it was a decent question.

Max rolled her eyes, and pointed to a barely noticeable scar on her forehead. "I had to get stitches, if that makes you feel any better"

I smirked "It does, actually. Now I know you're not a vampire or something, and therefore not immune to death and injuries."

Max eyes furrowed into one of her signature death glares that of course, had no affect on me. As a matter of fact, it made her look kind of cute…. Wait, what? Ok, let's all just ignore that last thought.

"uhh, so what do you think Iggy's doing right now" I said quickly, trying to steer my mind away from thoughts of how cute my best friend is when she wants to kill me.

She blinked at the sudden change of topic, and shrugged "Probably puking his guts up somewhere"

I nodded in silent agreement. Iggy'd never been the brightest.

"Do you think we should find him, see if he's ok?" she asked in a tone that obviously meant she was joking.

"Nope" I answered anyways.

She smiled, one of her "I have an idea" smiles. _Oh crap._

"Good, because we, are going on that" She exclaimed, before grabbing my arm, and pulling me in the direction of a very large, complex, unsafe looking roller coaster.

I know what you're thinking, why would I go on a roller coaster, if sometimes even standing up makes me extremely dizzy. But you see I loved those damn things. So, of course I went on it.

* * *

><p>Rollercoaster= very bad idea.<p>

As soon as we stepped off, I knew that everything was about to go downhill. It was inevitable.

My feet hit the ground, and everything started spinning. I had lost all sense of direction. Up, down, left, right; they all just blurred together. The only thing I did know was that max was right beside me, calling my name asking me if I was OK. Although, I only heard pieces of what she was saying.

"Fang…..why….are…ok?"

It didn't make sense, so I just shook my head, trying to clear it, to return everything back to normal. Of course, it didn't work, and for the second time in my life, I fainted.

Then, there was nothing, and all's I could do was float.

* * *

><p><strong>AN. Ewe. That was probably the worst chapter I've written for this story : sorry. Next chapter, though, special things will happen :p**

**Thank you for all of the reviews, alerts, and favs. I love you all (in that **_**totally**_** creepy kind of way)**

**I'm still lazy to log in, and pm you guys when I get your reviews, so:**

**Fluffy: **

_Aww D: Me too. R.I.P 3_

**Music-Lover6678:**

_No back stage pass :( but, it was an amazing concert._

**Faxloverforever:**

_You should tell him anyways :3_

**AzianDemigod16:**

_Pffft, Canadians are epic :D_

**JealousMindsthinkAlike:**

_Thank you, I'm glad you like it :)_

**FangGirlForever:**

_Next chapter…._

**Glass In The Trees:**

_Thank you :) and I love "School Days"._

**Katie:**

_I barely us mine :/ thank you _

**Fear-me123:**

_So which character do you like?_

**Thanks again, guys **

**On a side note, I've had the song "A Shot Across The Bow" by Mayday parade stuck in my head all weak, I'm updating this at 1 am, and something about bacon.**

**R&R?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I still do not own Maximum Ride.**

* * *

><p><em>Date: Saturday November 4<em>

**Max**

_What the hell just happened?_

One minute, I'm having a nice day out with two of my best friends the next minute Fang is passing out in the middle of an amusement park, and all that I can think is _great, I just killed fang._ Except that would be ridiculous, right? All that I did was take him on a rollercoaster, and last time I checked, people don't freaking die from roller coasters. Or at least, I hope they don't.

Anyways, once fang hit the ground, people started freaking out. All of those said people resulted in one of the workers to walk over and see what the commotion was about. The guy was pale and skinny, with bleached blonde hair, and mud colored eyes. Upon see Fang lying passed out on the ground, he whipped out a walki talki, flipped a switch on it, and called for the amusements parks "paramedics".

The problem with paramedics at amusement parks are, that most of them are just uncertified people, who know a minimal amount about helping the injured, that were hired by the amusement parks manager to act as "paramedics". Something told me they wouldn't be all that great for helping Fang.

It took them about 5 minutes, but eventually 3 wanna-be paramedics showed up, clad in white button up Shirts, and Black pants and shoes, and armed with your basic first-aid kit. 2 of them dropped down and started doing, what I assumed, was checking his pulse, making sure he wasn't dead…. While the 3rd proceeded to start clearing the area of people.

I just stood there, doing nothing, Feeling completely useless. I watched as flashes of worry crossed over one of the wanna be's face, as he slipped a black cell-phone out of his pocket and punched in a number.

"Excuse me, miss, we'd appreciate it if you just continued on with your day. We've contacted the nearest hospital, and they have sent an ambulance out for him. The boy will be fine." I turned around to see one of the medics standing behind me, looking slightly bored. His greasy brown hair was slicked back against his head, and his forehead was covered in sweat. Ew.

Wait what? Why the hell did they have to call the hospital?

"Wait I'm his friend, and why did you call the hospital?"

The guy grimaced in a way that clearly showed he didn't feel like dealing with me. Sheesh, people these days. My best friend has to go to the hospital, and all this guy can do is make faces at me.

"His pulse is irregular, as well as his breathing. We figure calling the hospital is the safest way to go. If you are is friend, then I suppose you should stay with him. As a matter of fact," he said, pausing to wipe his forehead "If you know the number, you should call his parents"

Me? Call fang's freaking mom, who thinks I'm the devils spawn? Yeah, I can just see how that would go. _"Hi, I'm just calling to tell you I took your son on a roller coaster, and then he passed out. Now we are going to the hospital". _Ugh.

Nonetheless, I decided to do it anyways. See? I'm such a wonderful friend.

I scooped my cell out of my jean's pocket, and dialed Fang's home number, part of me hoping his mom would've gotten home by now, and part of me hoping she hadn't. I suppose you could call it a win-win situation, even though neither version of "winning" was a good one.

" Hello?"

Oh crap, she answered.

"Uhh.. This is Max"

Silence. Damn, I say 4 words and she's already ignoring me.

"And well I'm at this new amusement park thing with Fang, and we just got off of a ride. Then, Fang, kind of passed out, and now they're taking him to the General hospital... about 30 minutes away from the school..."

More silence and then "I'll be there in 40. Thank you for calling."

Before she could hang up, I felt the urge to blab out "I'm really sorry"

"As much as I'm not a fan of yours, Max, it isn't your fault. Fang's sick"

Oh god. I had a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that told me that when she said "sick" she didn't mean your common head cold. " Sick?"

"Max, fang has cancer."

**Fang**

Waking up in a hospital, and not remembering how you got there, is definitely _not_ a good experience. Even more so when some idiot insists on shining a light in your eyes.

With a groan, I brought one of my hands up to cover my eyes before whom I assumed was the doctor could shine the damn thing in my other eye. "What are you doing?" I grumbled.

"Checking the dilation" Replied an eerily familiar voice.

I raised myself into a sitting position, and took in the idiot who'd tried to blind me. Gray hair, blue eyes, white coat; it was the same doctor I'd had the first time I was here, Doctor Ott. Why the hell was I back in the hospital? Besides the obvious "I have cancer" reason of course.

"You'll be happy to know, that the dilation was fine, your pulse is going at a normal rate again, and as far as I can tell, you're breathing just fine" He exclaimed cheerfully.

Wait, something was wrong with my pulse? God, there are so many things wrong with me. All that I could remember was passing out at the amusement park. Everything after that is a giant blob of nothingness. I didn't necessarily want to know the details of what had happened during the time I was out, so I opted to just stick to my strategy of trying to get out as fast as possible. " So….. I can leave?"

The doctor nodded once again. "Your mom is signing your papers right now, and then you can leave. For now, just take the elevator down to floor one, last time I checked your mom and girlfriend were waiting in the main lobby. If you don't feel any dizziness upon standing up, I'll let you go without a wheel chair.

What? My girlfriend? I wondered if he meant Max. If so then I was screwed, as there was no way Max didn't know about my cancer now. I wondered briefly what her reaction would be. If it upset her, or maybe she didn't care. That would be understandable.

This got me thinking if anyone _would_ care when I died. Maybe a few people would be sad for awhile, but then move on with the rest of their life. Because, whether I like it or not, the world is going to keep moving on with, or without me.

I stood up slowly, so that I wouldn't become dizzy, as I wasn't really in the wheelchair mood. I looked to the doctor, who gave me a quick nod of approval before stepping out of the doorway to let me out. "No more coasters, Fang, and keep taking those pills I gave your mom" he commented, almost offhandedly to me, as I walked out of the room.

I nodded eager to just get the hell out. "Yeah, sure."

"Until next time, then"

Yeah, 'cause We both knew that there _would_ be a next time. It was inevitable.

* * *

><p>I found Max stand in the waiting room, leaning against the wall and tapping her fingers on her jeans, and chewing nervously on her lip. <em>Damn it<em> I thought, slightly frustrated, _there's no denying that she knows, now._

Secrets: another one of life's many impossibilities.

I cleared my throat, " Umm hey, Max"

Her head shot up in my direction. At first, she just glared at me, making me think that she was going to A) hurt me, or B) yell at me. So I was shock, when instead she opted for throwing her arms around me and hugging me.

I stood there for a second, not really sure what to do, before my natural instincts kicked in, and I returned the hug.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me, you idiot?" Ah, there was the yelling I was waiting for.

"I didn't think it was something you needed to know" I replied truthfully.

She looked up at me then, and I could've sworn that tears were filling her eyes. She opened her mouth, as if she were about to reply with some form of witty comeback, before closing it again, and dropping her head back down. "I don't want you to die, Fang"

I tightened my arms around her, not really sure what was happening "I don't think I get a choice"

she shook her head "You always have a choice, Fang"

"I don't" I said quietly "not this time"

If I had a choice, I would've chosen to rewind my life, and change everything. I would tell my dad not to go to work, to stay home, on the day of the accident. Then, I would've kept my friendship with Max. _Everything_ would be different, if I had a choice.

That's the problem though, I don't have a choice. When it comes to life, no one really does.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>

**Soo…. When I have writers block, my chapter tend to start sucking. Sorry :/ I wasn't even going to update this, because I really need to update my other stories, but my writes block for them is even worse than it is for this.**

**Thanks you for the reviews, Favs, and alerts :D **

**Fluffy: **

_Iggy is Iggy._

**AzianDemigod16:**

_I Agree : ) we should all move into igloos for the winter. Make all those ridiculous Canadian stereo types real. Being sick sucks D: _

**Midnight-Rose4563:**

_I'm sorry about your aunt :( Your dad to, but I'm glad he's better._

**The-Hunger-Games-Lover99:**

_I don't like cliff hangers either. Concerts are the best thing ever._

**BirdKidKirby:**

_Yeah, I have horrible grammar and spelling. I really shouldn't even be writing until I can use it properly._

**TwiPotterHungerRidePercyLiars:**

_Thanks :) I'm going to guess that you don't want fang to die…_

**JealousMindsthinkAlike:**

_I love Mayday parade too. Terrible Things is amazing._

**Fear-me123:**

_Hehe, Iggy makes me laugh, even in the most serious moments._

**I'mOuYourWindow:**

_Iggy eats that much hotdogs :) And thanks._

**Aha. All of your names get underlined with red squiggles on my computer. It's great.**

**I saw the Hunger Games Movie yesterday….. It was good, but they changed/took out a few things that were kind of important. Like Madge, and Peeta's freaking leg. **

**Ok, bye :p**

**Both flames and reviews are welcomed, if you have any ideas for this story tell me.**


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride

* * *

><p>Date: Wednesday November 15<p>

* * *

><p>Fang<p>

"So, Nick, how've you been feeling lately?" My mom asked me, before daintily biting into her Toast.

It was hard not to remind my mom that no one, including my teachers, had called me "Nick" since kindergarden. Even harder still to keep myself from giving her a "look", considering how stupid her question had been.

Seriously, what was going through her head? " Maybe I'll just ask my cancer ridden son how he's been feeling, because that's what good moms do"? If so I question her mental state.

It was two or so weeks after I had re-gotten out of the hospital. Or as I liked to think of it, two weeks after Max had found out about my cancer. I'd been worried she'd start treating me like how everyone else, save my mom, who knew about it did. Like I was a fragile peice of glass, ready to break at any given moment.

Of course, Max , being Max and all, had totally surprised me when, the day after, she'd shown up at our house to as if I wanted to go hiking with her. Ya, that's right, Max hikes. I was shocked too.

" I've been feeling... well you know, same as usual" I mumbled back.

Mom nodded tersley and wiped the side of her mouth with a napkin. " Will you be going to school today?"

I nodded in reply. I admit, I was slightly befuddled; since when does mom care about wether I go to school or not?  
>"Well, Nick... I suppose I should get to the point...You see Nick, I've been... Seeing somone."<p>

Whhhhhhaat? What did she mean " She's been seeing someone" Seeing someone as in dating? Or seeing someone as in one of her clients?

Something- the deep gut wrenching feeling that I was experiencing in my stomach- told me that this wasn't a client, that my mom was dating someone. Someone who wasn't my dad, and for some reason, that bugged me. More then I ever thought something this petty could.

I had been closer to my dad then anyone else in the world, except for Max, and as pathetic as it sounds, when he died, so had a tiny part of me. Now, four years later, I still felt sick of the thought of him being replaced by... anyone, really.

God, I sound like such a girl. Where's my manliness when I need it?

" You-what?" Was all I, the ever so manly Fang, could get out.

She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly " His name is Eric Smith, we've been... Dating... for 6 months now." She got out, stumbling across the word "dating"

6 months. My mom had been dating someone for 6 months. How had I not known? God, I'm such an idiot. " Why.. didn't you tell me?"

" I didn't think the relationship would go anywhere.I didn't want to have you upset over something that could've only lasted a week." She gazed steadily at me, as if gaging my reaction.

" So then... it's... serious?" I admit, I felt like I was going to be sick. What if they were engaged, or something stupid like that? Sure, it had only been 6 months, but she'd only known my dad for a year before getting married to him.

She swallowed. " Yes... They- Eric and his son, that is, are going to be moving in with us."

No. I could handle my mom dating someone, but having that someone move in? With his son? That, I couldn't handle.

Yet, somewhere in the back of my mind, it all made perfect sense, what my mom was doing. I was dieing, and dad was long gone. These people, they'd be our replacements, because as much as mom didn't give a damn about much, I knew she wouldn't be able to stand being alone. So why not? Why not just find replacements before the inevitable happened?

" But I haven't even met them" I all but growled, now furious at my mom. Talk about a mood swing.

She winced, like me words had been a slap to her face " I know , Nick, but they're coming over tonight for dinner. You'll get to meet them and maybe you'll even like them"

She was so wrong about that. Even if these people were angels, I wouldn't be able to make myself like them, it was impossible.

" And.. I was thinking that you could maybe ask Iggy, or,Max, over. Just so that there's someone here you know"

I closed my eyes tightly, trying not to completetly freak out. " Ya. I'll ask. I've got to go now"

I stood up, pushing my chair out behind me, and left, making sure to slam the front door.

* * *

><p>"So wait, your mom did what?" Asked Max, for the 5th time since I'd told her about the events that occured this morning.<p>

We were in Wood Shop, where we were supposed to be working together to create a table. Considering that Max couldn't use a toaster, I didn't really trust her with the saw, or any other tools, for that matter. I wasn't really in the mood to drill stuff together, so we had spent most of the glass pretending to make measurements.

Iggy, on the other hand, had been paired up with some kid named Bennie. Iggy had a saw in his hand and was cutting furiously into a piece of wood while cackling manically. Bennie looked despaired, and did nothing but watch helplessly as Iggy shamelessly murdered wood.

" She's having some guy and his kid over tonight for dinner, so that I can meet them before they move in" I sighed inwardly as I pretended to mark down something on a piece of paper.

" Oh... That sucks, I'm sorry, Fang"

Yet another weird thing about Max. She finds out I have cancer and acts like nothing's changed. My mom dates another man, and she's acting like it's the worst thing that's happened to me.

" Yeah, and she told me I could invite a friend over... so, will you come? "

Max blinked, seemingly shocked about what I'd just asked. " Yeah, sure. You know I'd do anything for you, Fang. Hey, we should totally put worms or something in their food!"

I snorted, " that's such an uncreative prank. What happened to the evil genius, Max, I used to know and love?"

Of course out of all of that Max got " Heh. So you admit it, you looove me. "

I rolled my eyes, despite the fact that I suddenly had a weird, nervous kind of feeling in my stomache. " It's a figure of speech, Max"

" Go ahead, get down on your knees and confess your undieing love for me!" she shouted, causing everyone in the room to stare at us.

The weird part? Instead of getting embarassed, we both broke out into hysterical laughter.

Leave it to Max to make me forget about why I'd been in a bad mood in the first place.

* * *

><p>Eric Smith didn't look like how I'd expected a guy named Eric Smith to look like. I'd expected someone with gray hair, and some kind of pale eye colour, dressed in a suit .<p>

Instead, Eric Smith had ashy blonde hair, and his eyes were a blueish colour. The really weird part was that he was wearing a hockey jersey. Yup, turns out Eric Smith was a huge sports fanatic, and wrote the sports coloumn for Arizona's most popular paper. Who would've thought?

His son, was name Dylan, Dylan Smith. He too had blonde hair and blue eyes, but unlike his dad, he was wearing a white T-shirt, and blue jeans.

Of course, I hated both of them as soon as I saw them.

Both of them were overly perky and happy. Eric wouldn't shut up about some sports, and Dylan had managed to steal Max away from me.

Not that she was mine in the first place, but still, she was my best friend, not Dylans.

And of course, mom just sat there smiling the whole time. Like right now, she was laughing at some horrible joke Eric had made about some guy getting the blade of a skate sliced through his neck.

The worst part was, I couldn't leave. Mom had spent the entire day cookie a whole turkey, and making patatoes, like it was Thanksgiving or something. If I got up and left without eating anything, she'd have a bird.

So, I sat down and pretended to eat, even though I wasn't hungry at all. Stupid cancer. The first time in years my mom actually cooks something, and I don't have any appetite at all.

" So, Max, do you have any siblings?" Dylan asked Max in that overly perky voice of his.

Max arched one of her eyebrows, clearly not enjoying the interview Dylan had been giving her. " 2 sisters, and one brother."

Dylan bobbed his head happily and continued babbling.

" So, Nick, what do you have planned for after highschool? Dylan here is on his way to a full ride football scholarship"

I looked at him blankly. So my mom hadn't told him about the cancer. Maybe she was scared it would frighten him off, or maybe she was worried he'd find out that he and his son were just replacements.

" I don't need to worry about after highschool" I answered

Eric looked absolutely befuddled " what do you mean? Every young adult should worry about their life after highschool"

Life after highschool.

O, god.

I might not even live that long. I had wasted so much of my life on school... and now it was all for nothing. I may not even graduate. What was the point of being able to divide, add, subtract, and all that other crap, if I was going to die?

All of my life wasted on school. Why? So I could get a job? Non-stop work, for nothing.

I suddenly felt sick , and quickly, I excused myself from the table before running outside. I didn't stop running for about 30 minutes, which for me was a great feat.

I wish I could've run longer. Because, even though I knew it was ridiculous, a small part of me had hoped that maybe, I could out run death.

It was impossible though, no one can out run death.

* * *

><p>AN(my bold and italic buttons are broken :)

Thank's for all of your reviews, favs, etc :) i actually answered by pm this time.( sorry if I missed you)

So I know this chapter was kind of of scattered and crappish, and I apoligize for that.

*READ THIS*

ok, so just a quick question. Would you rather the fax in this story be slow and built up, or do you want it to be a quickerish kind of fax? I can do either, I'd just like to have your opinions.

Sorry for the bad grammar and spelling :(

OK, I'm off to go kidnap Marianas Trench, buy a test tube, and obtain "the force" (It's a long story)

R&R?


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I still don't own Maximum Ride .

Date: Sunday November 30

Fang  
>officially hate sundays.<p>

You see, I was supposed to spend this particular Sunday helping Max and Iggy blow up stuff in the yard behind Iggy's house, but instead I'm stuck at home helping Eric and Dylan move in.

Yup, Sundays are the worst.

The part that really sucked though, was that I had to share a room with freaking Dylan, and tommorow the life sized barbie doll is starting at my school. Huzzah.

"So, Fang, would you like the top or bottom bunk?" Dylan asked.

Oh yeah, mom had also decided that it would make more sense for us to have bunk beds then it would for us to just have our own beds.

"Don't care" I mumbled, setting myself down on the bottom one.

I had spent my day moving furniture around, being stressed out, and trying not to rip Dylan's face off. Which, is a harder taske to accomplish then you think. I was now tired, and slightly dizzy, and wanted nothing more then to fall asleep.

But of course Dylan wouldn't allow that. Instead of taking the fact that I was lying face down on a bed as a hint that I wanted to sleep, the idiot decided it would be a good idea to turn the radio up as loud as he possibly could.

Usually, I chose to sleep with music on. The problem with Dylan's music, is that it sucks. Seriously, was that the freaking "Stereos" ?

" Dude, could you please turn that crap off?" I grumbled into my pillow.

"Geez, someone's grumpy" He said quietly before flicking the radio off.

"Mmph" was my clever remark.

" Hey, so your mom told my dad and I that you have like cancer or something." He said cheerfully, as if this was the best news he'd ever recieved.

Slowly, I forced myself to sit up and glare at Dylan. There were so many reasons that I had to hate the guy. The fact that he took everything so lightly, that his dad was dating my mom, and most off the fact that he had everything that I used to have. A dad, the ability to see the brighter side of things, and a disease free body. God, not that I spend my time looking at Dylan, but the kid even had the same muscled body that I used to have.

Now, I look like on of those kids who skips school to hide in their rooms and shoot drugs.

" Yes, Dylan, I have leukemia, and yes, I am going to die. Now please, go and do whatever it is you do" I then laid back down on the bed, hoping that he'd take the hint and leave.

A minute or so later, I heard the steady fall of his footstops as he exited the room.

Good, now I can finally sleep.

* * *

><p>Max<p>

" So that's the Dylan dude?" Iggy inquired, glancing over at Fang's new "roomate", who was walking just a little infront of us. "He looks like a total weiner"

I snorted, and Fang nodded in agreement.

Today was the schools annual "walkathon". Up until this day students were supposed to be collecting sponsors, who'd choose to pay a certain amount of money for every mile they walked. The money the school collected as a whole was donated to hospitals and stuff. I, being the charming girl I am, had managed to obtain 2 sponsors. My mom, and our neighbour, Miss Becker.

Dylan hadn't gotten a chance to get any, so the teachers told him to just tag along with Fang.

" So what's he like?" continued Iggy.

Fang shrugged " Extremely happy and annoying."

" Also a major flirt" I threw in, remembering the interview he'd given me the first time I'd met him.

Iggy nodded grimly " So, do you want me to do to him what I did to, Bennie?"

Bennie? As in his tech partner?

" What did you do to, Bennie?" Fang asked before I got the chance to.

" Oh, nothing to serious" Iggy grinned " but if you want something serious done to, Dylan, I could always beat his pancreas with a spork"

Have I ever told you that I think there's something wrong with Iggy's brain?

" Ahh, no. I don't think that will be necassary...~ Fang trailed off"

Iggy shrugged, a big smirk planted on his face " well then suit yourself, Broski. Now, excuse me while I frolick" He then turned and stared skipping down the side walk, "accidently" whacking Dylan in the face when he passed him.

I looked over at Fang, who seemed to be grinning slightly and shaking his head.

" What's made you so happy?" I asked, genuinely curious.  
>He glanced over at me, still grinning " Just Iggy. The guy's a total idiot, but you gotta love him"<p>

Eh, he had a point there. Sure, I'd only known Iggy for a little while, but in that time I'd realized that Iggy was Iggy, no matter how odd Iggy may be.

Then, there was Fang, who I'd known practically my whole life, and now may only have for a couple more months.

Although I'd never tell Fang, the fact that he had cancer was eating me alive. When I'd been oblivious to it, I hadn't noticed all of the changes in Fang. Now though, that's all I noticed. How pale he gets, how skinny he is, that he almost never eats, everything really. And at night that's all I could think about. Whether he'd still be alive when I woke up the next day, just how much longer he had left. It was driving me nuts. It had also made me realize something, and that something was that If Fang dies, I'd be left with a big gaping whole in my heart.

Cancer, it's one of those things that never seems real. You here about and think " I'm so lucky because that'll never affect me."

That's what I thought, and even though I wasn't the one suffering from it, it was definetly affecting me.

"So, Max, I'm going to the mall after school today. Wanna come?" Fang asked, breaking me out of my depressing thoughts.

Weird, Fang wasn't usually the one to suggest going to the mall. " Yeah, sure. Why do you want to go there anyways?"

" I made an appointment at the tattoo place, so I'm getting it today" He stated simply.

I should've guessed, seeing as Fang had wanted a tattoto since forever. I guess he thought now was a better time then ever to get one, even though his mom would most likely kill him.

But then again, she wouldn't have to. Cancer would take care of that for her.

* * *

><p>Fang<p>

"Annnndd done" Twittered the tattooist, Randy, as he proceeded to wrap some clear bag type thing around my arm.

Finally, I had gotten my tattoo, and it looked exactly how I'd imagined it, exactly like dad's.

Mom was going to kill me.

" Thanks" I said, and gave Randy his money.

Randy grinned a toothy grin and waved as I walked out of the shop. Max had left to check out some new store, and we'd agreed to meet up at the food court.

Dylan had gone home (yay) and Iggy's mom had called him, saying she needed him to watch his younger sister. So that had left me and Max on this mall excursion alone

I found Max sitting at one of the plastic table eating what looked like a hamburger, and sipping at a smoothie.

"Hey, Fang" she called upon seeing me " show me your freaking tattoo"

I sat in the chair next to hers and rolled up my sleeve, revealing my newly inked skin. Max studied it for a moment, and curious expression on her face. "It kind of looks like one of those tattoos that those angels had in that movie" she said finally, in her mixed up, sense missing Max way.

I shrugged and pulled my sleeve back down " Maybe when I die I'll be an angel" I muttered.

Max smiled slightly " Yeah, you'd be Fang, the clumsy angel"

I snorted and grabbed one of Max's french fries, nibbling on it . " That's no way to talk to someone who very possibly end up being your gaurdian angel, or something."

Now she frowned, her forhead creasing "If your meant to be my guardian angel, then I'm screwed."

I smiled, and said nothing more on the topic. Instead, we proceeded to have a competition to see who could eat the most fench fries in one minute.

Even though, I admit that a part of me hopes that when I die, I will in fact be Max's angel.

* * *

><p>AN: italics and bolds still hate me. Umm ok so this chapter makes absolutely no sense at all, so flame me or something. I had writers block.<p>

thanks for all of your reviews and alerts :D i tried to answer all of them, so sorry if I missed you. There was a 3 way tie for the fax vote soo... ya :/

ummm that's pretty much it.

sorry for the bad grammar. I'd try and get a beta, but honestly I'm to lazy to go through the beta profiles.

Chapter is dedicated to 6l4v4a is me.

reviews and flames are welcome.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

_Date: Tuesday Dec 1st._

**Fang**

"Hey! Kid wearing to much black! Are you going to climb that wall or not?"

I winced, not for the first time, as the substitute P.E Coach starting up his yelling again.

You know how in most of those shows about "highschool", the coach is always some buff guy who yells really loud at everyone, for stupid reasons? Yeah, that's exactly how this guy was.

I looked solemnly up at the rock climbing wall, it wasn't to high, and I could probably get up and down it easily, but the lack of energy I'd have afterwards wasn't something I wanted to deal with. "Um, not?"

The coaches eyes narrowed, as he walked right up to me and poked me in the chest. Oook, clearly there's something wrong with this man. " And why is that?" He shouted, even though he was right infront of me.

I was just about to reply with a coment that I thought was pretty clever, when Dylan, who I just so happened to have P.E with, decided to "help" me.

" Nick here has a ... weak body, he's not to over exert himself." Dylan said brightly, throwing in one of his "look at me I'm perfect" smiles.

Is it just me, or did he just make me sound like a 2 year old girl with the flu?

The coach snorted, and stepped back from me. " Well then, ...Nick" he paused, as if the word displeased him "I guess you can just go sit on the bench."

Yup, I used to be one of the most athletic kids at school, now I'm the freaking kid who has to sit on the bench in P.E. Thank you, cancer.

The worst part about today, was that Max wasn't here. She'd texted me this morning saying Angel and Gazzy were sick, and her mom was working, so she had to stay home and take care of them. Iggy, who was on the soccer team, was out of school at some tournament all day, and wouldn't be back until about 3 hours after school got out.

So, long story short, I was stuck here with Dylan. Then, when I went home, I'd be stuck with Dylan, and his dad. Great.

With a sigh, I got up from the bench and walked over to the coach, to ask if I could "go to the bathroom". He shot me a suspicious glance, as if he knew that I wouldn't be coming back, but nodded nonetheless.

Relieved to have gotten out of the gym, I made a beeline for the schools front doors. I figured that if Max and Iggy were both gone, I may as well leave to.

I started walking to my house, planning on just sitting on the couch and being lazy. Normally, I'd hide out in my room, playing around on my laptop. But eversince Dylan had moved in, I had felt like my space had been invaded, and therefore I wasn't overly comfortable in my room anymore.

I had forgotten that my mom was home today, so I was shocked when I got to the house and found her in the kitchen doing dishes. "Hey, Nick" she said, peering at me over her shoulder while scrubbing a bowl.

"Hey, mom" I replied, setting my bag down on the table " Where's Eric?"

Mom turned the sink off and starting drying her hands with a dry dish cloth " He's at work, so I was just doing a little cleaning around the house. What are you doing home so early?"

I yawned and streched my arms across the table, thinking that the sleeves of this shirt were to short, just barely concealing my tattoo. I opened my mouth, about to explain the whole gym thing, when mom grabbed my arm.

That's when I remembered that my tattoo showing was a bad thing. Oh shit.

" what is this?" Mom shrieked, obviously appalled by it.

I almost didn't want to say "It's a tattoo" soley for the purpose of I didn't like stating the obvious.

"How could you something like this, Nick? "

Ok, really? I get cancer and she treats it like nothing, even has a replacement all chosen out. I get a tattoo on the otherhand, and she acts like it's the freaking apocalypse. To be honest, I'd had enough of my mom.

Pulling my arm from her grip,I stood up, not bothering to say anything, before grabbing my bag and walking out.

Mom seemed to be pretending nothing had change.

I, however, was done with pretending.

**Max**

Babysitting sucks.

Especially when the kids your babysitting are sick, and so you have to keep on catering to them, otherwise they start totally freaking out.

Take Gazzy for instance, who had decided he wanted a popsicle because his throat was sore. This resulted in Angel wanting one, which led to the problem that invovled there only being one popsicle left.

So, what the hell do I do now?

Of course, Ella was being her useless self. She was probably up in her room facebooking or something.

Just as I was about to lie to Gaz and Angel, by way of simply telling them they'd eaten all of the popsicles, the doorbell rang. Great.

I trudged over to the door, wondering what idiot had decided that now was a good time to come over. I swore to god that if it was one of Ella's annoying friends I was going to -

" Oh" I said, surprised by who was at the door " Hi, Fang"

Fang stood awkwardly outside the door, as if he wasn't sure what to do with himself "Hey, Max. I um... I know you're babysitting, so if you want me to leave, I can. I just needed to get away from my house for a bit... and this was the first place I thought of."He finally finished, looking at me apolegetically.

"Oh, it's fine." I replied, because it really was " I've just gotta put Gazzy and Angel to bed, so if you want you can go and wait in my room" I knew he knew were my room was, because it's where we often sat when I had to do homework.

" Thank you" He said with a quick nodd, before padding up the stairs.

_No problem_ I thought. Now I just have to get my siblings to sleep. Oh boy.

30 minutes later, I was swing open the door to my room, only to find Fang lying on his stomach, clicking through some page on my laptop.

" What's up?" I asked, even though it was pretty obvious.

"Just checking my blog" He replied, his voice bothing but a mumble, and his eyelids drooped slightly.

Huh, I guess he's tired.

" Can I see?" I inquired, curious to see what Fang's blog was like.

Fang nodded and handed the laptop to me, before rolling on to his back and staring at the ceiling.

I clicked through different entries, seeing that most of them were just Fang's opinions on certain things about life.

Then, I came across on labled the "13 Thing's to Do List"

"What's this?" I asked Fang, who I think was on the verge of falling asleep.

He glanced at it, before returning his vision to the ceiling. " It's a list of 13 things I'd like to do before I die"

Oh.

I read through it quickly, surprised that there was only 4 things there. 2 of them he'd already completed. I was most definetly his friend again, and he'd gotten his tattoo.

I clicked the "edit" button, and quickly placed a big bold **X** beside the two, and asked Fang " what else do you want on here?"

Fang, in typical Fang fashion, raised a quizical eyebrow , and sat up , staring at the computer screen.

" I guess I'd like to actually tell Iggy, about you know..."

I nodded, and added on to the list " Tell Iggy about cancer"

" And that's all I can think of" He said, before I could ask again.

But what can I say, I was determined to help him fill this list.

" Is there anywhere you'd want to go?"

He shrugged. " Italy? I dunno, my dad always said he was going to take me there."

I nodded and added in "go to italy"

This list making thing was easy.

10 minutes later, we had the thing completley filled out with both big, and small tasks.

I was going to help Fang complete everyone.

After all, it was the least I could do for my best friend who meant the world to me, right?

**An: Crappy ending, I know. **

**Thanks for all of your reviews,alerts, and favs , they make me smile :D sorry if I missed yours while responding.**

**Ok, I'm out.**

**R&R?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

_Date: Friday Dec 4th_

**Max**

Fang had been absent from school for 3 days. No, scratch that, he'd been absent from earth as a whole, for 3 days. Yes, I know, your all thinking "_Relax, Max, It__'__s only been three days__"__. _Well let me tell you something, I've never been an overtly patient person, and to me 3 days was like 3 years. Now, my mind was seperated into 2 different thoughts. One being _I hope he__'__s OK_, and the other being _how could that loser just leave me here alone? _

Although, If I though about I wasn't technically alone, considering there's like 500 students at our school, and I had Iggy to hang out with.

I hadn't seen Fang since he left my house on Tuesday. I'd tried texting him, but there'd been no answer. I didn't want to phone 'cause his mom would probably answer. The awkward conversations I could have with that women... And, upon asking Dylan where he was, I got the helpful answer of "He's at home".

So, after having a long fight with myself in Geo, I'd decided that after school today I was going over to his house after school, which would be ending in aproximatly 7 minutes. Yay!

"Maaaaaax, what do you want to do?" Iggy whined, 7 minutes later as we stepped out of the school.

" I'm going to go see Fang" I answered simply, basking in the freedom that was escaping from school after a long day of boredom. Magnified by the fact that it was Friday.

"OK, I'll go with you" He responded easily. Of course, I couldn't just tell Iggy "no you can't come because he's really sick and that may be why he hasn't been here, and he doesn't want to tell you yet". That would just make him want to go even more. Besides, Iggy is Fang's friend to, and who am I to deny him the privilege of seeing his best friend?

So our plans were set. We made our way to Iggy's van, which had been "parked" near the back of the schools parking lot. Though I wouldn't really call it parked, as Iggy is a horrible driver. So unless you consider a car that's taking up two spaces because Iggy was in to much of a hurry to park it correctly, it was not in anyway "parked".

" Fang's gonna be so happy to see us!" twittered Iggy happily, literally skipping to his van.

I nodded mutely, thinking about just how unexcited he'd be if Iggy found out today. But then again, he may have just been skipping because he doesn't technically need to go to school, right? Or atleast I hoped so.

**Fang**

I was dying.

And no, I don't mean the obvious "I have cancer and I'm going to die thing." I was reffering to " My entire body is on fire, so I must be dying" kind of dying.

Which I suppose summed my situation up quite well.

You see, the morning after I went to Max's house, the first thing I did was run to the bathroom and throw up. Yeah, fun.

So after about an hour of that, mom walked in and totally freaked out. By freak out I mean she gave me a "That's really gross " look, before calling the hospital. Because God forbid that I go more then 2 weeks without having to go to that damned place. My schedule might. as be: Wake up. Go to school. Come home. Go to hospital.

Anyways the hospital must told her there was no point in me going. I guess that made sense. I was going to die anyways, why not just die now?

So after I was done puking my guts up, mom decided she'd act all motherly and got a thermometer. I hate those things, and how we're supposed to just hold them in our mouths. Or if your one of those really unfortunate people who has to take it the other way. Yeah, point is thermometers are bad.

Anyways, then she freaked out again. Except this time she actually freaked out. You know, crying and telling me to go lay down. Of course I did just that, as I'd felt like total crap.

So to make a long story short, I'd managed to contract what ever it was Angel and Gazzy had, and because my blood cells were all messed up they had a hard time fighting it off, which made it 10X worse then it should've been. Mix that with the wonderful things cancer already brought, and I was a total mess.

I hadn't left my bed for anything except the bathroom in 3 days. My head was slowly, but surely splitting apart ( atleast that's what it felt like) , I couldn't hold a coherent thought for longer then a minute, and every joint in my body hurt.

The whole time I'd had cancer I'd never felt this bad. It had always been something I could push to the back of my mind, if I really wanted to. But this? This was something I could never just pretend wasn't happening. This was torture.

If this is what it would be like, if this is what cancer really is, then I'd rather just die now.

**Max**

I shouldn't have gone to see Fang.

Iggy and I had arrived there, only to meet his mom, who looked like she hadn't slept in days. Surprisingly enough, she didn't make us leave . Just looked at us solemnly and said " Fang's upstairs. He's sick"

I wondered what she meant by "sick" . It didn't sound like she was talking about cancer. She sounded like a mom telling her childs friends that they can't play because her kids sick.

So We proceeded to go upstairs, passing by Dylan who was sitting in the living room watching TV. I'd never been in Fang's house, so I really had no idea where his room was. Luckily, Iggy, who had been here plenty of times, knew exactly where it was. See that? Iggy is good for something.

When we first stepped into the room that Fang shared with Dylan, the first thing I thought was " Holy crap 2 teenage boys are using bunk beds?" That was before my eyes landed on Fang.

He was lying on his bed, looking exactly how people in movies do, when they're acting out death scenes. All pale and thin, hollowed out cheeks, giant shadows underneath his eyes.

He was staring blankly at Iggy and I, as if he couldn't comprehend that we were there.

It was the worst thing I'd ever seen in my entire life.

And then there was Iggy, who didn't know why Fang looked this way.

"Fang?" He asked, a slight tremor in his voice " what the hell is wrong with you?"

Fang let out a deep breath " Cancer"

"Oh" was all Iggy said.

I didn't blame him. What could you say, when you find out your best friend is dying?

I'd never really believed it, that Fang was really going to die.

I'd deluded myself into thinking that this wasn't happening.

I couldn't do that anymore, not while I stood there watching my best friend struggle to keep his eyes open.

Fang was going to die, and there was no force in this world that could stop it.

**AN: **

**Uh. so I spent about 30 minutes before writing this reading a 50 page info thing about leukemia. So now I know more about the disease I'm writing about.**

**Right, so... Thanks for the reviews, favs, alerts,I love them all.**

**Chapter once again dedicated to 6l4v4a is me. she deserves about a million mustaches (don't ask)**

*** READ THIS***

k, so I've been getting a fair amount of reviews asking me stuff like "Is Fang really going to die?"

I don't know. I haven't thought of an ending yet. So, I want you guys to tell me how you want this to end. Give me some ideas.

Don't be to concerned with the ending yet, as there's still quite a few chapters left to this story.

**Anyways, I don't know when the next update will be. There was some giant fire at my house, and now we're trying to clean up the aftermath. So most of my time will be spent doing that.**

**K bye.**

**Reviews and flames are welcome :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

_Date: Sunday Dec 14_

**Max**

" Did you really just die again?" Fang asked incredelously as the screen turned a bloody red.

I scowled at him and resisted the urge to throw the controller at the wall. " It isn't my fault that this is the first time I've played this freaking game!" I all but yelled at him.

Fang snorted and rolled his eyes, " Max, you ran into the zombie. I'm pretty sure that the whole world knows that running into zombies is a bad idea"

_He has a point there_... " Well I didn't" See that? I have the best comebacks ever.

As much as I pretended to be annoyed with Fang, I really just couldn't be. To be honest with you my mind was screaming with happiness over the fact that Fang didn't die a week ago.

He was still sick though, so maybe I shouldn't be this happy.

You see, about 2 days after me and Iggy had gone to see him, only to find that he looked like Death himself, Dylan had phoned me ( I still wonder how he got my number) and explained that Fang had been brought to the hospital. So of course I overeacted, thinking that Fang was as good as dead, and begged my mom to let me go to the hospital.

When I got there, though, I learned that he'd been brought there to have a bunch of medicine pumped into him. Not the cancer fighting type of medicine, but the " tylenol on steriods" medicine, that was supposed to help get rid of his fever.

It had gotten rid of it, but the after affect was a very tired, semi concious Fang, which lasted for about 5 days.

But now, after 2 weeks of being sick, Fang was finally better. Well you know, as "better" as a dying kid with cancer was gonna get. But hey, atleast he's still here now.

" so are you going back to school tommorow?" I asked, almost expecting him to say no. I mean, I wouldn't go to school if I were in his situation, so why would he?

Fang sighed and sat back on the couch "Yup. I'll get bored if I spend much more time here. Besides, I should probably talk to Iggy"

I nodded thoughtfully, thinking that of course he'd want to talk to Iggy, considering that the guy had walked in on his best friend half dead. Only to find out that he has cancer. Iggy didn't talk about it much at school, in fact he hadn't been very Iggy like at all since he'd found out." Well atleast we can scratch that off of the list. You know, the whole tell Iggy thing"

"Yeah I guess" Fang muttered " he just shouldn't have found out like that."

I didn't say anything in response. Partly because I didn't know what to say, and partly because I fully agreed with him.

Iggy didn't deserve to find out like that, and Fang didn't deserve to have cancer. No one does. But it's not like cancer cares, right?

**Fang**

" Are you sure you don't just want to stay home?" My mom asked for the millionth time. Which is, in my opinion, a ridiculous thing to ask when I'm literally standing in the doorway, one foot out the door.

"Uh, yeah. I'll be fine, the worst that can happen is you know, me dropping dead in the middle of class" I said bitterly, only half joking.

Mom glared at me, which I happily took as my cue to leave. That's another reason I wanted to go to school. Mom was driving me nuts with all of this "pretending like she actually cares" crap. Because here's the thing, as much as mom likes to pretend she cares, she doesn't. I've seen her joking about it with Eric, thinking she was clever with her comments about how " the paleness really brings out my eyes". Dylan had once told me that mom told him that when he had the room to himself he could repaint it so it wasn't so "dreary".

So tell me, in what way could she possibly care?

Realizing that I was wasting time I could be using to walk to school, I stepped out of the house, shutting the door behind me.

I had been fully expecting to walk to school, so you can imagine my surpise when I started down my driveway, only to see Iggy's van at the end of it.

I think it took five minutes of me just standing there and staring at it like it was a unicorn, before a presumably annoyed Iggy rolled down the window to give me a "get your butt in the vehicle" look.

So of course I obliged.

I pulled open the passneger door and jumped into the empty seat, nearly peeing myself when Max's voice came out of nowhere.

" Hey, Fang" She said cheerfully from the backseat.

" Hey, Max, Iggy." I responded, after I got over the initial " holy crap Max is a ninja" moment.

"Good morning, Fang. " Iggy replied, putting the van into drive and backing out of my driveway "I picked up Max this morning, and she informed me you'd be going to school today. So naturally I came to pick up my buddy"

Oook. I hadn't expected Iggy to be so... Iggy like. Not after what, Max, had told me about him being quieter then usual.

"Uh Iggy?" I said, looking out the window, and at the direction of which the van was moving " call me crazy, but I think you're going the wrong way."

Iggy snorted and waved his hand dissmisivley " Relax, Fangypoo, Max and I decided that today we are all skipping school To celebrate you getting better- er well I mean you know..."

I did know. I didn't have my fever anymore, which was good I suppose, but I was still dying. I'd never truly get better.

" Oh. So where are we going?" I asked, hoping it wouldn't be another amusment park.

At this Max smiled from ear to ear " Do you remember that place our parents used to take us to? It looked all run down and stuff, but had like the best sugar coma inducing food ever?"

Yes I did remeber. It had been a giant warehouse that from the outside, looked like total crap, but on the inside, it was heaven. The best part about it, though, was that behind it there was a park that almost no one went to because the warehouse hid it.

"wait, that place is still open?" I asked, as it had been years since I'd last been there.

Max nodded " Yup. And it doesn't look that bad anymore"

Huh. It seemed like I was getting re-aquainted with all of the things I used to love. Including Max, but in a friend type way.

" Yes, and here we are" Iggy exclaimed, parking the van infront of a very non crappy looking building.

It was then that I remembered that Iggy and sugar aren't a good combination.

Oh crap.

* * *

><p>After about an hour of waiting for Iggy to decide what he wanted, we'd come out of the store, candy in hand, and walked to the park where we were now sitting on the old slightly rusted swings.<p>

It was nice, three best friends just hanging out on some swings. Acting like they had nothing to worry about, as if they wouldn't soon be reduced to two.

"We should come here more often" Max stated simply, as she twisted her swing around, tangling the chains together.

I nodded in silent agreement.

"Hey Fang?" Iggy said after a few more moments of silence.

"Yeah?"

"You know you can't die, right? I mean to many people need you to stick around. Like me, and Max. And if you wont die I'll have to test my bombs out on Max, and she'd probably rip my arm off. So you can't die, ok?"

That was the most serious thing I'd ever heard Iggy say.

"Iggy?" I asked quitely.

"Yeah?"

" I'm sorry"

**An:**

**Yes it's short and a filler. But sometimes fillers need to happen.**

**The next chapter wont be.**

**OMG guys we got to 100 reviews. I didn't think I'd get past 50 . I totally don't deserve half of those reviews, so thank you so much.**

**Anywho, Thank you for all of your reviews and ideas :) They've really helped me to decide how to end this, whenever the ending comes about.**

**I'm probably going to start up some Fax in the next chapter. I may update the next chapter tommorow/today ( it's like 2 in the morning)**

**Which makes me wonder, why the trench am i updating this at 2 in the morning?**

**I'm so tired I can barely even write this authors note.**

**K so I'm going to bed.**

**Reviews are loved.**

**Flames are amusing.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Detective monkeys are pretty cool, Jomamian is the best thing ever, and I do not own Maximum Ride. **

_Date: Tuesday Dec. 22._

**Fang**

I often wonder what goes through the school boards mind when they discuss what food they should serve in the cafeteria. I imagine it to be something along the lines of "_ Let__'__s just grind a bunch of assorted meat together, Add some gravy, and serve.__"_

Because honestly, the only edible thing in our cafeteria is pizza that costs about $10 more then everything else. But people bought, if only to avoid having to eat a tray of dead ground up animals.

But sometimes, you get the idiots like Iggy, who will do and eat anything for $2.

So that's how I spent my last Tuesday at school before christmas holidays. Watching Iggy scarf down who knows what, all for $2. Great. If anything though, we could all take this as proof that the mystery meet was bad, because afterwards Iggy spent a _long_ time in the bathroom.

In fact at this very moment, that is where Iggy was. Which left Max and I to sit outside on the school steps, waiting for him to come out.

"Soo..." Max said, as more students pulled out of the parking lot " Iggy just got dumber"

"I did not!" Came the oh so familar voice of Iggy from behind us before I could answer. " I'll have you know I need that $2. I now have $52 to buy christmas presents, and before I only had 50 so ha!" he then proceeded to stomp down the steps and over to his van, causeing atleast 5 people to give him looks that clearly said " There goes Iggy again..." Not that I could blame them.

With an exasparated sigh, Max stomped off after Iggy.

I wondered after her, contemplating if I was the only normal one out of the 3 of us. Iggy wasn't normal for obvious reasons, and Max was stomping around for absolutely no reason. What's up with that?

Once we were all in the van, where Iggy couldn't attract anymore attention, Max decided it would be a good time to start asking questions. "Hey, Iggy, you do realize christmas is in 3 days. So if you were going to do christmas shopping, why the hell didn't you do it like last week?"

Iggy snorted as if it were the most ridiculous question he'd ever been asked " Because I didn't have money last week. Plus I though you guys could totally helpp me..."

There's something you should know about Iggy, that something being that the guy was like a girl when he shopped. Everything caught his eye,and he could spend hours in some stores, looking at video games and such. Which, is exactly why I never went shopping with Iggy. Not that I was a big shopper anyways, but I think you get the point.

"We're not going to help you shop, Iggy" I muttered " The last time I helped you shop, you spent an hour in one store trying to decide wether you wanted a video game or a shirt with video game characters on it"

Iggy narrowed his eyes, but didn't say anything and continued driving. " Whatever. So what are you two doing for holidays?"

Ugh. For most familys, the holidays involved visiting relatives and having giant suppers. In my house though, it meant going to a crappy, boring as hell christmas party at my moms work on christmas eve. My christmas present, for as long as I could rememer, had been $100 bill. Then mom would go to work, and christmas was done. There was no trees or family dinners.

"Nothing" I replied.

" Almost nothing" Max echoed " Except on christmas eve I'm taking Gazzy and Angel to some christmas party so that mom can wrap presents and stuff without worrying about them.

I'm not sure, but I could've sworn Iggy's eye was twitching " My two best friends" He muttered, pulling the van to a stop in front of my house " Are the most boring creatures on the face of this earth"

_Yes_ I thought as I pulled the door open _and one of my friends is the biggest drama queen on the face of this earth._

" so what are you doing, Iggy?"

" I'm leaving tommorow morning, to go to my grandmas" He replied happily.

Usually I'd make a comment about how he was making fun of Max and I, when he was the one spending his 2 weeks off of school at his grandmas, but I wasn't in the mood to argue over stupid things. " Then I guess I'll see you in two weeks"

Iggy nodded happily "Yes. And when I'll come back, I'll have a pet tiger, as I'm sure that's what I'm getting for christmas"

Oh Iggy, poor, delusional Iggy.

* * *

><p>You know how I told about those crappy office christmas parties ?The ones that I'm forced to go to every damn year? Yes well apparently dying isn't a valiod excuse to get out of them. Believe me I had tried. Moms answer had been "That's nice, sweetie. Now go upstairs and put on something nice. We're leaving in in an hour"<p>

Lovely woman isn't she?

Anyways, it was up in my room, or should I just say Dylan's room? As that is what it will soon be known as. I decided that this year I was going to change my hate for christmas. Which, wouldn't be hard because all that I had to do was something a single step higher then going to an office party.

So, my obvious solution was to text Max, asking her if she was still bringing Gazzy and Angel to that party.

_Max: Yup. Wanna come?_

I smiled, as it seemed she'd read my mind perfectly

_Fang: Yup_

_Max: K. I'll pick you up in like 15 minutes? 'Cause it starts at 6 goes until 8._

I texted a quick reply saying that I'd be waiting outside, before going downstairs too feed mom my excuse.

I found her in the living room with Eric and Dylan, all of them dressed and ready to go. Obviously waiting for me. " Nick, I thought I told you to put something nice on" mom scoffed.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes and said "Yeah, I'm actually feeling kinda dizzy, so I don't think I can go..."I trailed off, hoping she'd pick it up from there.

She nodded thoughtfully " OK, Nick, you should go rest then. We'll be back at oneish

_Good_ I thought. I'd have enough time to go with Max and be back way before they got home.

Now all I had to do was not drop dead while at the party.

* * *

><p>"No, Gazzy! You can't set a stickbomb off you'll get us kicked out" Max told Gazzy for the billionth time since we'd arrived at the party.<p>

Gazzy sighed and threw his hands up in defeat "Fine then"

Just then Angel, who'd just finished sitting on "Santa's" lap, came bounding up to the table they'd been sitting at " Santa's getting me a unicorn for christmas," announced, serious as ever.

"That's uh special" Max replied " So what do you want to do now?"

I half expected Angel to say go home, as the two kids had already done everything they could at this party, so i was shocked when she said "let's go outside. The stars are always prettier on christmas"

Gazzy and nodded in agreement, which left Max and I with no choice but to take the two outside.

Outside the sun had completely gone down, and stars were scattered about the sky, a thousand lights to replace the suns glow. Angel, who apparently_ loved_ stars had insisted that we all lay on the ground and stare at them. So that's how all four of us- Gazzy, Angel, Max and I ended up lying in the grass staring at the sky on christmas eve.

"I've never understood those wackjobs who claim to see pictures in the stars. Constellation, or whatever they're called" I mutterd " To me they always just look like a bunch of stars clumped together"

I heard Angel sigh, as if I'd said the most ridiculous thing ever " Don't be mean to the stars, Fang" She said sternly, sounding more like my mom then a six year old " or else they'll get mad, and they won't grant your wish" Ahh, there was the 6 year old in her.

" Stars don't grant wishes, Angel" Gazzy countered " they just sparkle and stuff"

I don't know about you, but I agree with Gazzy on this one.

Angel let out a huff of breath " Guys are just dumb. You believe me right, Max"

"Uh. Yeah. Fang and Gazzy are just being close minded. Why don't you show them?" Max replied, like only a big sister would.

I admit that I was interested to see Angel's method of proving it, though.

" K. I wish that ,Max, would let me have another cupcake, 'cause they're _really_ good" She said quitely, before turning her head to give Max bambi eyes.

Max glared at her for a second before sighing " Fine then, Angel. Before we leave you can have another cupcake"

Angel smirked at me and Gazzy like she'd just won the lottery. In my defense,though, she'd totally cheated. The bambi eyes were an undefiable force, and she totally knew it.

"whoah" Gazzy exclaimed, obviously impressed " I wish that Max would let me have another cupcake too!" He yelled at the sky, as if he thought that if he spoke to quitely the "stars" wouldn't hear him.

"Fine Gazzy. You can have one too" Max muttered, before turning to me " Now you have to make one, Fang, Right Angel?"

Angel nodded silently.

Great, now I had to wish on stars. " Uh. I guess I wish that when I die, people remeber me for more then just "that guy who once got suspended for dying the science teachers hair green" or something like that"

Angel blinked " But you don't die 'til your old. Your not old, so by then they probly won't even remember that"

I wish my mind was that simple. That I was like Angel, not really understanding the full potential of death, that it could happen to anyone at anytime. "Yeah" I said " Max, you have to make one now"

Max looked at me like there was something she wanted to say but couldn't. "I did already. In my head" She murmered, before reaching out and grabbing my hand.

I knew instantly that it was her way of telling me her wish was about me.

I can't really explain what happened next, all I know is that in that moment, I wanted to kiss her. And I guess that at that point I didn't care about all the bad outcomes of it, because I did. My lips touched hers, only for a few seconds, but long enough to be considered a kiss.

When I pulled away she was looking at me, eyes wide, which made me think that maybe it had been a mistake.

" Ew. Did you guys just kiss? that's gross!" Angel squealed.

Max smiled then And pushed herself off of the ground. C'mon guys, lets go get your cupcakes so that we can get home, so Santa can come"

Angel and Gazzy nodded, getting up and running over to the building.

"You know what, Fang?" Max asked as we followed Angel and Gazzy inside " This has got to be the best christmas eve I've ever had"

And with that I couldn't help but think that it was ironic how my last christmas, would be my best.

Funny how the world works, isn't it?

**AN: Ugh. Have I ever told you I'm horrible at writing Fax?**

**Anywho, thank you for all of your reviews, favs, alerts, etc :D**

**K so there isn't much to say...**

**Sorry for the bad grammar.**

**Flames make me laugh.**

**Reviews let me know you're still interested in reading, which makes me upload faster.**

**both are pretty cool.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride**

_Date: Sunday December 25th_

**Fang**

I'll never understand those people who glorify Christmas.

I mean I know it's supposed to be the day Jesus was born and all that stuff, but was it really neccassary that we all run around singing annoying songs about snowmen? Or go through the trouble of stuffing some tree into our houses? Furthermore, what's up with the presents? But, the thing that really bugged me was all of those people who blabbed nonstop about nonexistant "christmas miracles", or any kind of miracle, for that matter.

Miracles don't exist. The problem is we all know that. It's like santa claus, or the tooth fairy; they don't exist, and we all know that, but it's nice to give kids something to believe him. That's what miracles were, something to believe in, to give people hope. But then again, you gotta wonder, does hope really_ do _anything?

And that was my the first thought I had when I woke up on the last christmas morning of my life. I admit, it freaked me out, that this was my last christmas. I mean I've never been a christmasy person, but the fact that I'd never be able to experience the christmas season again created a sick feeling in my stomache. Like someone had punched me in the gut.

My second thought, however, came to me after my mind had had the chance to recreate the previous nights events. I had skipped a christmas party to go to another christmas party with Max, Gazzy, and Angel... then we'd somehow ended up outside. We'd talked about stars, wishes, and cupcakes... and then I'd kissed Max...?

Wait a second, I kissed Maximum freaking Ride? I thought shooting upright in my bed.

Not that there was anything wrong with that really, it was just only hitting me now that I didn't know why I'd done it, Max was my friend afterall. Except as far as I knew, friends don't kiss other friends and then afterwards the friend who got kissed doesn't tell the kisser that it was the best christmas of their life, right?

And if I was being comepletly honest with myself, as I usually am, I didn't really think about Max in the way friends should think about their friends. No I wasn't having dirty thoughts about her or anything, I just mean when I thought of Max it wasn't like_ oh she__'__s my best friend. _It was more like _Max is one of the most important people in my entire life, and she has really pretty eyes..._ See? That isn't normal! In fact I sound like a 10 year old girl freaking out because Justin Bieber coughed on them!

This whole thinking thing has made it painfully obvious to me that I like Max. Alot.

Damn. The problem was that I _couldn__'__t_ like Max. Regardless of wether she liked me back or not. Why? because it would be unfair. If she did like me I couldn't just be all " I like you, you like me, but I can only date you for a year before I die and leave you alone"

I couldn't do that to her, which is why I've decided that when I next see Max, I'll just explain the kiss like it was an "in the moment" thing. Yup, I'm a genius. Besides, who says she even likes me back, in that way?

So there you go. I'm a 17 year old cancer infested kid who wants to kiss my best friend.

My life is so messed up.

"Niiick, breakfast!" Eric's voice rang hollowly through the house. Did I ever mention that Eric cooks? That's the only good thing about the guy in my opinion.

I heard the creaking of a bed above me, a tell-tale sign that Dylan had heard his dad, woken up, and was now getting out of his bed. I myself got out of my bed, making sure not to hit my head off of the top bunk. It's times like this that I can't help but ask if my mom wasn't intoxicated while making the desicion to buy these damn thing.

Dylan and I weren't 4 year olds, and we aren't like those two funny, but insane guys in that movie "Step Brothers" so what had given her the bright idea to buy bunk beds?

Anyways, not waiting for Dylan to get out of his own bed, I made my way downstairs following the slightly sickening scent of pancakes. Years ago pancakes had been one of the best things that ever happened to me, now they just made my stomach churn.

"Merry Christmas' Eric bellowed cheerfully as I walked into the kitchen. Clearly Eric hadn't gotten the memo about how Christmas is an almost foreign concept in this house.

I grunted in reply and sat down across from mom at the table, surpised when she gave a tiny cough and said " Nick, be nice"

Huh? What the hell did she mean by "be nice"? Did she mean that we were suddenly into christmas, and that I wish a merry on unto Eric? Assuming that that was in fact what she ment, I looked up at Eric and mumbled a quite, yet audible "Merry Christmas"

Is it sad that that's the third time in my entire existence that I've said "Merry Christmas"?

Just then Dylan came skipping into the kitchen. When I say skipping I mean he literally _skipped_ into the kitchen. Iggy skipping is understandable, because he's Iggy, but the son of a sports fanatic skipping around, regardless of wether it was christmas or not? That's just plain weird.

"Merry Christmas!" He chirped and plunked himself down in a chair right next to me.

I looked at him blankly while Mom and Eric twittered a cheerful "Merry Christmas".

Ugh. My own family is going to make me sick.

"Do you want a pancake, Nick?" Eric asked, gesturing to the flattened breadlike things.

I started at them distastefully and shook my head " I'm good, thanks"

Dylan, however, took like 40 of those things and ate them all in about 5 seconds. God, is that how I used to be when it came to food?Kind of pathetic, considering that now I have to be forced to eat by my mom.

After everyone had finished eating (or in Dylan's case inhaling) the pancakes Eric left the room announcing that he was going to get "presents"

I wondered if this year they'd be actual presents, or if I'd just get $100 again. My question was answered moments later when Eric with a rectangle shaped box thing wrapped in snowmen printed paper that he handed to dylan, and a flat piece of rectangular paper in the form of a card that he handed to me.

So Dylan gets an actual present, and I get money. Seems fitting, why buy the cancer kid something of value if he's only going to be able to use for a year anyways.

When Dylan opened his present to reveal a new laptop that must have cost atleast $500, and upon opening my card to find my usual christmas present, I decided that it was time for me to go back to bed.

"Wait, Nick" Mom called as I retreated up the stairs " you have something else to"

I had the sudden urge to roll my eyes at her. I was trying to leave and let her have a nice christmas, but noooo she decides that I need to stay downstairs longer.

"You know those wish granting companies they have? For kids with... diseases?" She started as I walked back down the stairs and nodded silently " Well a couple one of them phoned me a couple of weeks ago and informed me that they've decided to give you on" She finished with a smile.

"Huh?" I answered like the smart guy I am.

She rolled her eyes and that weird way moms have of rolling their eyes that makes kids feel like a total idiot " Basically, you can do the one thing you've always wanted to do. Granted that it's realistic of course"

Ooooh. It was that kind of wish granting company. In that case I knew exactly what I wanted, no ifs, ands, or buts. " OK, tell them I want to go to Italy. With Max, and Iggy."

Mom gave me an incredelous look " Are you sure? You don't want take a minute and think or anything?"

I wondered why she was so surprised. It's not like she hadn't known about the plans dad and I had always made to go there. Of course it was only natural of mr to choose this as my wish. " Yeah. You should call them today." I turned to go back up the stairs "I'm getting dressed, then I'm going to see Max"

Partly because I wanted to tell her about Italy, and partly because I just want to see Max.

The second part being the bigger of the two, of course.

* * *

><p>"So we're <em>really<em> going to Italy?" Max asked loudly, causing the people at xthe park to turn and give us looks.

You'd think that people wouldn't even be at a park but nope, apparently a bunch of kids, including Angel and Gazzy, had decided that Christmas was the perfect time to go to a park. Even though they had a bunch of new toys and stuff. Whatever.

I slapped a hand over Max's mouth and nodded "unless the people are fakes, yes we are going to Italy"

Max promptly removed my hand from her mouth " This is _so_ awesome" she exclaimed.

I nodded my agreement amused by the fact that neither of us would bring up the reason as to _how_ the opportunity had arose. There are somethings that are better left unsaid.

"Iggy, is going to flip pandas when he finds out" she continued, her eyes lighting up with excitement.

This just so happened to bring the image of Iggy attempting to flip a Panda over. It's not something that would end well.

"This really has got to be the best Christmas ever" She finished quitely, which caused me to look over at her. Her expression of happiness had turned into one of deep thought.

I knew , with almost no doubts what she was thinking. How unsuiting it was that this would be the best christmas ever, while at the same time being the worst.

"Hey,Fang, ?" She asked a couple minutes later " Why did you kiss me last night?"

I felt my face turning slightly red as I struggled to come up with an answer ." Because I wanted to...?"

She was looking at me directly in the eyes, making it that much harder to think of something else to say .

"And I... like... you?" how had the conversation turned into this disatrous clump of awkward? I thought as Mac stared at me blankly " But it's ok, because I know we're just friends. And anyways I'm going to... die soon... so uh I shouldn't have relationships like that anyways" Smooth Fang, next thing you know I'll be climbing up random buildings and confessing my nonexistent undying love for Twinkies.

Max just nodded and turned her head to stare out at Angel and Gazzy who were swinging on the swingset.

We said nothing again for maybe 30 minutes, and just sat there lost in our own thoughts before Max decided to wreck by saying 11 simple words.

"Fang, you have no idea how much you mean to me"

_Yeah _I thought as I let her words sink in _you have no idea how much you mean to me either._

* * *

><p><strong>AN \(O3O)**

_I find t_hat bold is to obnoxious, and I like the way italics look, so I'm going to start writing these things in italic.__

_Anyways, thank you so much for your reviews, favs, and alerts. You have no idea ho much they mean to me._

_It's like I was talking to 6l4v4a (i dunno if i spelt your name write) were talking about and I was talking about the amount of times I've considered quitting, cause really the site kinda just makes me mad nowadays, and my readers are the only reason that I haven't quit yet. So thankyou guys._

_Anwhoo Does _ANYONE _have _ANY_ ideas for the Italy trip? __'__cause I__'__ve gotten as far as Iggy on a plane :/_

_I'm either going to update again tommorow either tommorow or monday...dunno which._

_sorry for the bad spelling/grammar (ugh I should probably get a beta, right?)_

_Reviews are better then mustaches._

_Flames are cool too._

_I enjoy reading either one._


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

_Date: Thurs. Jan 7_

**Fang**

"Everyone, I have something important to say," iggy announced as we stepped onto the plane " I, Iggy the awesome, am on a plane." He finished with a smirk as passengers shot him looks.

Mom was looking at him the way she always looked at Iggy- like he was some form of alien that hadn't yet learned a humans language. "I swear to god" she muttered " if he's like this the whole trip i just may have him pushed off of the plane."

Iggy turned to give her a dubious look " No you wouldn't, 'cause that would be murder "

That awkward moment when Iggy tries to be smart.

so, if you hadn't guessed yet, we- My mom, Erik, Dylan, Max, Iggy, and I, were all on our way to Italy. But, before Italy was the plane.

" Uh, maybe we should find our seats?" I suggested, trying to be the voice of reason.

"Seats are for losers" Iggy stated happily.

Max snorted "Fine then, stand the whole way."

Iggy nodded, seemingly agreeing with her, and clearly missing the sarcasm in her voice.

"Well, I'd prefer to sit, so I say we follow Nick's advise and find those seats" Is it just me, or does Erik sound like Dora? You know with the "Let"s find those magic sheep!" Or whatever it was Dora tried to find. It's not like I'd know, I'm a teenager, afterall, and Dora is for little kids.

"I'm pretty sure that flight attendant over there wants to either kill us or severly harm us" Max gestured to a woman wearing a blue uniform who had a big, fake smil plastered across her face. Her eyes however were narrowed at us, making her look somewhat constipated.

"Well, we are blocking the aisle" and there was Dylan, stating the obvious " Maybe we should ask her to show us where we sit?"

Ah. That's the first smart thing I've heard Dylan say ever since I met him. I should mark this on my non existant calendar as "The Day Dylan Said Something Smart". It's a historical event, really.

" No, no, I'm sure we can find our own seats just fine" Mom muttered with a wave of her hand. I should have seen that coming, mom doesn't like getting help from others. She claims it's all part of being an independant woman, or something like that. " Besides, I've been on a plane plenty of times before"

_Yup. _I thought, mentally sighing to myself _When you were six..._

* * *

><p>10 minutes later, after pissing some short guy off (Iggy thought he was midget), and waiting for mom to realize that we'd been in the wrong section of the plane, we'd finally found our seats. We weren't in first class or anything, but we also weren't in a bad section.<p>

Conviently we'd all been placed in seats close to one anothers. Erik beside Dylan, Mom beside some elderly woman, but across from Erik, and Max beside me. The best part was that Iggy got shoved beside a 7 year old who was traveling by himself. I assumed he was visiting his granparents or something. Anyways, this 7 year old had decided to do whatever he could to annoy the heck outta Iggy.

Take now for instance, the kid was in the proccess of repeatedly poking Iggy's head, while Iggy glared at him, eye twitching.

" He looks like he's going to eat him" Max pointed out, staring bemusedly at Iggy and his new "friend".

"Yes but then the kid would probably just wreak havoc on Iggy's insides" I said in answer to her statement.

"There's so many things wrong with that scentence" she replied, turning to sit properly in her seat.

Max, being the stubborn idiot she was, had insisted that she have the window seat, leaving me to sit on the outer seat with nothing but Iggy and Max to look at. I'd say I didn't have a problem with looking at Max, but that kinda defeats the purpose of the "trying to stay friends " thing. It would also be just a tad creepy. And if I started looking at Iggy I'm almost positive my mom would get me a therapist, not that I'd blame her.

"Ugh, airplanes are boring" Groaned Max "How much longer are we on this thing?"

" I dunno. Another 3 hours or so?" Don't you hate when people ask questions you don't know the answer to? Or is that just me? " Now be a good Max and watch the movie" I pointed at the TV that was playing one of those cheesy romantic comedies were the two people hate eachother and then a crisis happens and they randomly decide they can't live without eachother.

Max grumbled something about airplanes and how stupid they are before staring at the screen, her dislike for the movie showing on her face.

" This is so stupid"

C'mon, Max, you're a girl, your supposed to be crying or something by now"

She glared at me in a way that suggested that if it wasn't ilegal, she'd kill me right now.

"Fine then" I muttered " I guess I' ll have to be the girl."

Max snorted and turned her attention back to the screen "you do that, Fang"

" Oh look. She got hit by a bus, and now he's crying, Awww that's so sweet" I said in my best impression of a girls voice, hoping to annoy Max. "Awww, his love for her saved her even though she went flying like 10 miles and should totally be dead"

Turns out my plan to annoy Max didn't work "Dude, you sound like Justin Bieber"

Yup. Nice friends I have.

"Your mom sounds like Justin bieber" My comebacks are pure gold, pure freaking gold.

* * *

><p>"Land!" Max all but screamed " Finally beautiful land, free from closed in airplanes! Thank you ciamp-whatever Airport!" She yelled as we exited said airport.<p>

" It's Ciampino. You know, like the city we're in right now?" I explained.

Yup, we were now in Ciampino Rome. Or however you'd say that. Point is, we're in freaking Rome. And even though we'd only been there for 20 minutes, 15 of them spent in an airport, I could honestly say that I already loved the place. You see,my dad had always been into historical stuff. He'd always talked about wanting to come to Rome just to see all the ruins, shown me pictures and promised that one day we'd go together.

It was almost exactly like the pictures had shown, except real, and beautiful. It was wrong though, so incredibly wrong that I was here without him.

Max rolled her eyes " Whatever. "

Iggy then took the opportunity to say that Ciampino sounds like a type of Nut. I told him he is a nut.

"Ok, everyone, there should be a taxi here to bring us to our hotel. So keep an eye out for a man holding a sign with "Walker" on it" I nodded in reply to Eric's instructions, figuring that it wouldn't be to hard to find a sign with my last name on it.

That was until I saw all of the other signs. There was tons, all held up by taxi drivers, white paper with names scrawled on in black holders of the sign seemed to be yelling out the name written on the paper, their voices to jumbled together to really understand anything, though."Whoah, it's like those "where is Waldo books", Iggy gasped.

Only Iggy would compare this to "Where is Waldo"

We must of stood there like idiots for a good 5 minutes before Max started moving " Found it" She called, smugly, knowing we would follow.

" Woohoo, first an airplane, now a taxi, today is the best day ever!" Screamed Iggy.

There it is, Iggy's new motto. When in Rome, flip out over a taxi.

* * *

><p>Is it sad that our hotel room is bigger then my house?<p>

No, I'm not joking. The thing was huge, and expensive looking. Marble floors, glass showers, miny fridges, do you see where I'm going with this? The only bad part about it was I had to share a room with Dylan and Iggy. The annoying human ken doll, and Iggy, who I can honestly say I'm scared to sleep in the same room as. Who knows what that kid gets up to at night. Of course Max got her own room though, being the only teenaged female and all. Whatever.

"Alright guys, I say we go down to the hotels resteraunt, eat something, then come back up and unpack stuff" Mom chirped brightly.

Whoah. Happy mom =scary mom.

"I'll stay here." I said, figuring I should get this conversation out of the way "I'm not really hungry.. "

The newly found happiness flickered out of my mom's eyes for a moment before being replaced with a smile "Ok, Nick, We'll be back soon"

"I'll stay here with him" Max suggested .

Mom nodded, whispered something to Max, and proceeded to herd everyone else out the door "We'll bring something back for you, Max"

After they were gone, Max and I stared at eachother awkwardly before Max said "So uh, do you wanna watch TV or something?"

I nodded mutely and sat down on the giant white couch that sat infron of a flat screen TV. Max sat down next to me, and handed me the remote.

I powered the TV up and flicked through channels, not really finding anything interesting, just a bunch of cartoons, italian shows, and sitcoms. I finally settled on. News channel that was having a special on cancer survivers. Yes I know, it's a little morbid for me to watch something about people who'd survived the disease that I wouldn't. But, it was interesting, and as much as I hate to say, gave me hopw. Maybe I wouldn't die after all.

Max shifted slightly and pulled the remote from my hands, pressing the off button. The tv's light flickered off, leaving the room dark.

"Why?.."

" Because it's stupid" She replied.

oook then. " People living is stupid?"

"No. I mean they all get to live, but you don't that's stupid."

" Yeah but they all had people who needed them, it's not like the worlds just going to let them die, and abandon all those people. Noone needs me, so it only makes sense. I die and keep the population in check, make room for someone important"

Max reached out and grabbed my hand " I need you, your mom needs you, Iggy needs you, we all do" She said quitely. "Why is the world so messed up?"

I laughed " It isn't, not really. We're the ones who are messed up"

"Elaborate" Max replied.

" It's like the world didn't decide that we should treat ugly people like crap, and pretty people like royalty. That was all us. Those people all had a reason to live, and fought like hell for it. I'm not fighting, so it only makes sense that I die"

It's like that saying, only the strong survive, and I'm not strong, in anyway, shape, or form.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong>

uh** so. That was a filler :s I know, fillers suck. Sorry.**

**Thank you all for the reviews, alerts, favs, :D They help me to know people are still interested in reading, which makes me wanna keep writing.**

**Chapter is dedicated to: MaximumLaughterLoves. Thank you for the ideas.**

_***Read***_

_**I have writers block. So, if you want an update before next year, I need ideas for the next chapter. If you have any idea at all, please tell me. What do you want to happen in Italy?**_

**K so. sorry for the grammar.**

**If you review I'll give you a hippo. Yes, a Hippo.**

**Bye. \(o3o)/**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Fang**

Breakfast in a five star hotel in rome was so much better then breakfast in my kitchen. Just saying. I mean, even though I had no idea what 60% of the food was, and my appetite was about the size of a dot, it still tasted good. Not to mention that the dining room was huge. It wasn't one of those fancy ones though. That one was apparently reserved for dinner only. This one however, was covered in a dull red wall paper, that were supposed to match the black tiled floors. The tabled were like normal tables in a restaraunt, covered in white cloths. Mom and Eric had taken their own table, leaving the kids to eat at the what Eric had promptly called "the kiddie table" . Have I ever told you how much I hate that guy?

"Clothes are so annoying" scowled Iggy, tugging at the hem of the dark green shirt he was wearing.

Dylan looked up from the bagel he was inhaling to stare at Iggy with polite interest "Why ?"

" I swear" Iggy muttered in what I'm sure was supposed to be his "serious" voice " This shirt is trying to strangle me. "

"You could become a nudist" Dylan suggested helpfully.

Ok, no. The last thing we needed was Iggy running around naked. Naked Iggy=Bad. I was just about to point this out, but of course Max beat me to it.

"If, Iggy, becomes a nudist, I swear to god he better stay locked in his house and away from society 'cause I have no intention of ever seeing Iggy naked. Ever."

Iggy took this as an invitation to throw a piece of whatever the hell it was he was eating at her " Eat your breakfast, Max. I shall ponder this desicion on my own. I personally think the world would do good with some of my epic sexiness."

Max scowled at him, while I tried really hard not to burst into laughter. Epic sexiness? Yup, only Iggy would run around preaching about his "epic sexiness".

Iggy folded his arms across his chest and glared at us " That's it. Dylan is my new best friend, atleast he respects my dreams"

"Iggy don't listen to what ,Nick, says. Pursue your dreams young man, if you want to be a professional ballerina, you be that"

O god. of course Eric would choose this moment to butt into a conversation he hadn't heard the beginning of. Now Iggy was smirking at us as if he'd just one the lottery, and Eric looked like he'd just made some kids biggest wish come true. Idiots, both of them.

" But, his dream is to run around naked" I said bluntly.

Erics face turned slightly red as be realized what he'd just told Iggy " Well then... Well maybe you could be ah.. naked... in your house?"

Iggy threw his hands up in frustration " Fine then" he grumbled "I'll just live my life as a depressed, naked hermit. Will that make you people happy?"

"Yes, very much so" Max replied cheerfully, Eric and I nodding in agreement.

"Well then..." Mom said wonderingly, as she'd walked up to the table just now, only catching the end of the conversation . "I see you've had an um .. interesting breakfast? " She shook her head , probably wondering how she'd ended up bringing the weirdest group of kids on the planet to italy " I hope your all ready to go and see some stuff"

Stuff. Yup, I was most certainly ready to see said "stuff" Apparently Iggy was too .

"O yeah. Are we taking another Taxi? I love those things!"

I feel bad for Italy, seeing as we were about to let Iggy loose in it's streets. Oh well, as long as he keeps his clothes on...

**Max**

Rome is freaking beautiful. I thought , not for the first time, as we piled out of the taxi. I mean, sure it was a bunch of streets and ruins, but the ruins were part of what made it amazing. Plus we'd passed a beach on the way here and it had to of been the most gorgeous thing I'd seen in my life.

"Right, so where do you guys want to go first?" Fang's mom asked, looking actually normal in jeans and T shirt.

"The beach!" Iggy sreamed, right in my ear. I glared at him and poke his head, hard.

He took a step away from me, flapping his arms in my direction . Idiot.

Fang frowned "Can we go look at stuff first? Then go to the beach?"

" But the beach has girls" Iggy whined.

"We didn't come to italy for girls" I pointed out. Or atleast I didn't. Not sure about Iggy, or Dylan for that matter.

"Guys calm down" Eric said in his " shut up and listen" voice. Ugh. " Why don't we just split up, and meet back at the hotel at around 5 ish."

Fang's mom bobbed her head in agreement, happy with the plan.

"Cool" Iggy said smiling " Me and my new BFFL are going to the beach to stalk girls"

"BFFL?" I asked blankly.

"HE RESPECTS MY DREAMS!" Iggy yelled he and Dylan scurried off to er... stalk girls, as Iggy so neatly put it.

Eric watched after them, a bemused look set into his face. " Well then... Nick, your mom and I are going to go check out some stores. I trust Max and you will be fine on your own?"

Fang nodded and two adults took it as their cue to say "bye" and go off to do whatever, leaving me alone with Fang. Great.

You see, after I'd kissed Fang (or Fang kissed me? whatever) I'd realized that I like him, like really really liked him. But then he'd been all " we're just gonna be friends" and it had felt like somone was punching me hard in the stomache. 'cause maybe I wanted to be more then friends. I didn't want to be left alone with Fang because everytime I was I wanted to kiss him or hold his hand or something. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't help with the whole " let's be friends" thing.

"Sooo" I started, wondering how the day would turn out " Wanna go look at some destroyed buildings?"

Fang smiled " Totally"

" I think this one is my favourite" Fang said gazing up at this one huge ruin. I personally was not getting what the difference between a bunch of the ruins were. Fang, however, was fascinated by it.

" 's nice"

Fang turned to me and gave me an apoligetic smile " Sorry, It's just my dad used to be really into this stuff, so I guess it kinda rubbed off on me"

I shrugged, not really caring as long as Fang was happy. My only complaint was that I was hungry, like really hungry. " It's fine. But do you think we could get lunch or something? I'm starved"

He nodded and we started walking back towards where there was shops lined up on every street.

" Hey Max?" He asked suddenly.

I turned to look at him, arching an eyebrow questioningly. " Thanks for putting up with me and stuff" He muttered.

Stupid Fang. Thanking me for being his friend. Stupid, stupid Fang. " You don't need to thank me, Fang, I'm your friend . That's what friends do."

" Yeah" he muttered " friends."

And it was exactly like christmas eve. One minute we were talking, the next minute we were kissing. Kissing Fang was something I could do all day everyday. His lips were like a drug, they felt and tasted good, making me want more.

Of course "more" would never happen considering the fact thar he'd kiss me for like 4 seconds before realizing what was happening and pulled away.

"Uh" he said brightly, staring at me with wide eyes.

I shook my head " before you say anything, I just want you to know that I know that you don't want this to go anywhere because you're... dying. But It's my life to, and even though it might not be for a long time, I want to try this." God, I must sound crazy "Because I really like you and I don't think I can just be your friend" I finished in a rush before snapping my eyes shut. There's no way I could look at Fang after that.

I was surprised when I felt something brush lightly against my cheek, even more surprised when I opened my eyes to see that it was Fang pushing a strand of hair behind my ear. " Ok " muttered quietly .

And then he kiss me. And this time for more then 4 seconds.

**AN: blah.**

**Ok I'm writing this like 10 minutes before I. need to go to school . So I can't do my usual note.**

**Thanks for the reviews and alerts and favs and stuff :D**

**if you guys review I'll update within the next 3 days 8v just sayin.**

**K bye love you all.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maxmimum Ride . If I did it would suck.**

**Fang**

So, I guess my "just stay friends with Max" plan had just gone out the window. I mean I only kissed her for like 5 hours (ok, 5 minutes, but you get the point, right?) right after I'd agreed to giving our "relationship" a try.

Relationship. Ugh. I'd never like the word, seeing as most relationships ended in disaster , except for those horrid romance movies. Considering my condition it didn't seem like Max and I would be in for a fairy tale ending.

Now it was. 5:00 Pm and we were trying to find our way back to the hotel. Not as easy as it sounds, especially when you're in a foriegn country. Just saying.

"Ok, I'm almost positive we didn't go down this road" Max stated camly she'd been uberly happy ever since we er... kissed. I guess it goes to show that non girly girls get all creepy happy after kissing someone.

" But we did, didn't we? There's that same resteraunt we passed" I pointed out the ugly yellow restaraunt with a picture of some kinda flower painted on a wooden sign that hung above the building.

Max shook her head stubbornly " There's been like 5 of those restaraunts. "

I sighed and turned to go another way when a rush of dizziness hit me. I crouched down holding my head in my hands hoping it would leave, even though I knew it wasn't just my head causing the dizziness.

Oh god. I hadn't had what I like to call a cancer attack in weeks. So why was it chosing now of all times was it choosing now to screw me over? Today had been perfect. Between waking up in rome and kissing Max, I couldn't have asked for anything better. Maybe that was why it was happening now. The world has something against people being to happy.

_Go away. _

As ridiculous as it may seem, I'd started seeing the cancer as a part of myself, 'cause in a way it was, right? Most people had that side of them that told them to do bad things, well for me that's what the cancer had turned into. There'd been a countless amount of times where it felt like I could feel the disease spreading inside of me, telling me to just give up and let it win. Like a parasite, the cancer was killing me so it could grow.

" Holy shit, Fang, are you OK?"

As much as I love- er Like Max, that was not a very smart question to ask. Infact it's probably not something you should ask anyone with cancer.

" Fine" I muttered, and slowly got back up to make sure I wouldn't fall again.

I was lying, of course.

"Let's just find the freaking hotel."

"Whooo! Finally! Hello you beautiful hotel" Max cheered, pulling open the door to our hotel room. p

After wondering around the streets for a good hour we'd finally found some english speaking tour guide to lead us back. sure he'd charged about 5 dollars worth of italian money, but atleast we weren't lost any more.

It was good we'd gotten back to the hotel when we did, because I felt like total crap. Not crappy enough to pass out or puke or anything, just crappy enough that I was extremely tired and a little out of it.

I grunted in reply to Max's enthusiasm and trudged over to the couch where Iggy , who had somehow gotten back before us, was watching something that look like Transformers. The made for 4 year olds cartoon version of transformers, that is.

" Fangle jangly poo!" Iggy. chirped obviously happy to see me " My BFFL you're back !" O great, so now I was BFFL? whatever the hell that meant "I thought you'd been eaten by an italian or kidnapped by a cat or something"

Kidnapped... by a cat? Right. Maybe I was so tired I was hearing things. Either that or Iggy had officially lost it. I flopped down on the couch next to him as Max past by us, claiming that she was going to take a shower.

" Where's, Dylan?" I asked, not that I cared.

Iggy scowled " That idiot? he's down stairs in the indoor pool"

" I thought he was your... BFFL"

Rolling his eyes Iggy lowered his voice " He talked to one of the grils we were stalking. Can you believe? She wouldn't have known we were staring at her but nope, Dylan had to go wreck it . I don't care if he's the only one that is ok with me wanting to be naked, he has crossed the line!"

O yeah, he's definatly lost it. No question about it.

" uh ok. Wheres mom and Eric?"

He shrugged and turned his attention back to transformers " Still haven't come back yet. They're probly making out or something"

I refrained from telling Max and I had been um "making out" and we'd still managed to come back on time, even if it did take a little assistance.

That reminded me, I was now Max's boyfriend or something. Was I supposed to tell Iggy? I knew I couldn't tell mom, she'd flip out and probably get me a therapist. Telling Dylan or Eric was a nono to. Eric would just tell mom and Dylan would probably cry, considering it was obvious he liked Max too. So did I tell anyone? or were we just keeping it a secret? Maybe it would be better if we just didn't try this dating thing at all.

Except... I'd already told Max yes. I also really liked her. I liked kissing her and listening to her voice. I didn't want her to be open to other guys. So not being with Max was also off of the list of things to do. Damn. Maybe I should just talk to her.

Just then I noticed something waving infront of my face. It took me a second to realize it was Iggy trying to get my attention by waving his arm infront of my eyes. Guess I'd zoned out.

"What, Iggy?"

Iggy put his arm down " Just making sure you were still there"

I wondered what he ment by that. Was it just him being stupid, or was he making sure I hadn't spontaniously died or something?

" Yeah" I got up from the couch, reluctant to do so due to the fact that my legs felt like jello " I'm going to go and... shower, in the other bathroom"

"Ok, don't drown Fangly jangly poo" Iggy sang in reply.

Yup, that would be just my luck. Drowning in a shower.

**Max**

I was turning into a total girl.

And by that I mean one of those girls who worries about what their hair looks like, or if they have pimples, and all because Fang had agreed to.. date? me.

It was ridiculous, and yet I didn't care. I was to happy to care. I mean I know that it won't last long because of you know what, but at the same time Fang dying didn't seem real, and I guess that's just how I justified me being with him that way.

And either way, when he dies, it'll kill me on the inside. So what different does it make if we're best friends or boyfriend and girlfriend?

" Everyone, please come to the living room for a moment" Erics voice boomed through the hotel room, sure to reach everyone from where they were. I was in my room reading, Fang was lying on my bed listening to his I-pod.

I got up from the chair I was sitting in and went to poke Fang in the shoulder. He took off his head phones and quirked an eyebrow " Eric wants us all in the living room," I explained.

Fang blinked, nodded, and very slowly got up from the bed." He probably just wants us to go eat or something" Fang mutter, slightly annoyed.

I shrugged and walked out of the room and straight into the living room, Fang following closely behind. Dylan, and Iggy were already sitting on the couch while Fang's mom and Eric stood infront of the TV holding hands.

"O good you came" eric said.I resisted the urge to tell him that he didn't need to state the obvious, and sat on the couch next to I

ggy. Fang, I noticed, had chosen to stand behind the couch, staring intently at the 2 adults infront of us.

"We have news"

O god. If Fang's mom is pregnant he'll die. Right here and now, it would totally kill him.

"Nick" Eric said calmly, looking at Fang cautiously "Your mom and I are engaged"

Oh. Oh no.

It was silent, everyone looking at Fang as if they expected him to turn into a hippo.

" Woohooo!" Dylan cried happily, before standing up to hug the two of them ." Did you here that,Fang, we're going to be brothers!"

That's it. I'm killing him. I'm stealing the nearest chainsaw, and chopping off his head. Just saying.

" I need... to go" Fang muttered, before practically running out the door.

Uh oh.

" I'll go get him" I exclaimed to a room filled with people who clearly didn't care. They were still hugging and cheering . all of them save for Iggy.

People these days.

* * *

><p>I found Fang just outside the hotel standing on the steps looking blankly at the sky.<p>

"Hey, Fang" I started, not really sure what to say.

He turned and looked at me a sad look in his eyes. He looked broken.

" Are you-" I stopped. I wouldn't ask if he was ok. He probably hated being asked that.

"No . I'm not ok" He whispered before taking a step towards me and wrapping his arms tightly around my body and pulling me close to him.

" I just want everything to stop changing, Max"

" I know" And I did.

I didn't say anything else, because nothing I could say would make any of this better.

Words can't solve everything.

**AN: O god. that was horrible.**

**But I told you I'd update fast if you guys reviewed c: **

**Sorry for typos and grammar. I'm so freaking tired, and therefore There's probly like 60% more typos then usual.**

**Random fact: I have the last chapter of this story already written. considering doing a sneak peek thing. maybe.**

**Thanks so much for reviews, favs, etc . I looove you.**

**Tommorow is finally my last day of school. so excited. I'm going to P.E.I and Nova scotia in a week for 2 weeks to see some family. should be good. And in the fall I'm seeing Marianas Trench. soooooooo freaking excited. **

**k. same as last chapter. if you review I'll update within the next 2-3 days. I'll never not update due to lack of reviews though. I just get more motivated when you do review is all c: plus some of us have become friends because of your reviews. 2 of you even have my freaking e-mail (actual email not FF one)**

**I'm rambling. sorry.**

**Bye.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**Fang**

Apparently Eric and Dylan had relatives, Erics parents, to be exact. And Apparently said relatives where living in Italy for a year for no other reason except they wanted to.

According to mom, now that she was engaged to Eric( Which, by the way, I'm still not in any way happy about) it was only proper that we meet them. 'Cause they're my future Grand parents (in law) and she was their future daughter in law. So I can kinda unserstand why they'd want to meet mom, but where's the point in meeting some random kid who's gonna be dead before they are?

Upon explaining this logic to my mom, she patted me on the head and said "It's OK, Nick, You'll make them feel young again".

Was that supposed to be helpful?

"Oooook" Time for Plan B " What about , Iggy, and, Max? "

Mom squinched her eyes together, making it plainly obvious she'd forgotten about them "We'll take them... with us?"

"Yup" I muttered " And then you can introduce us as "My almost dead son and his friends ,Iggy, Who's wierd, and Max, who I only let Nick hang out with 'cause I feel sorry for him" I finished, making sure to add extra sarcasm into my it just me, or is it bad that I actually did that stupid airquote thing?

Mom blinked slowly, in a way I'd once seen a lizard do. "Fine, whatever" She sighed " You 3 can stay here. Just stay in the hotel and don't do anything stupid"

Us? Do something stupid? Never.

* * *

><p>"Let's light the pool room on fire!" Iggy<p>

shouted a bit to loudly considering that we were sitting in the middle of the hotels resteraunt eating lunch.

"I told mom we wouldn't do anything stupid" Well, technically I didn't tell her, but I think agreeing with her on the matter is close enough, right?

Iggy frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, looking like a four year old who hadn't gotten the toy he'd wanted for christmas."Then what are we supposed to do?"

" We could swim, play golf, or play laser tag" Max spoke up, reading from a list of the hotels attractions.

"Laser tag" Iggy and I said at the same time. The last time we'd played golf Iggy had ended up smacking his mom in the head with a golf ball. It had resulted in a huge bump that refused to leave for about 2 weeks.

" I don't even want to know" Max said before we could explain. " The laser tag arena opens in 10 minutes, so hurry up and eat"

Yeah, 'cause we all know how much I love to eat.

"Look, Fang looks like a firework" Iggy pointed his laser gun at one of the sensors on the laser gun vest I was wearing and pulled the trigger, causing my vest to beep and light up.

I looked at Iggy incredlously, fighting the urge to get a real gun and shoot him as he proceeded to start singing in his horribly off key voice " Baby you're a fiiirework" Something something Let it burst!" And so on.

I looked to Max for help as continued singing as loudly and obnoxiously as he could.

Shrugging Max raised her own gun and fired it at Iggy's vest. Almost instantly Iggy stopped singing so that he could glare at Max. "You are lucky that the game hasn't started and that shot doesn't count, other wise I'd be sending my pet tiger after you and he'd eat your face."

The bad thing about this was how serious Iggy looked and sounded when he said it. As if on cue a high pitched siren started wailing throughout the arena signaling the beginning of the game.

"Mwahahaha" Iggy cackled " Now prepare to die!" He shot both Max and I. before running into the maze like place yelling something about saying hello to his little friend.

Note to self: Never give Iggy a real gun.

* * *

><p>It's pathetic, or better yet, I'm pathetic, considering that after only an hour of laser tag I was ready to fall asleep. Not wanting to fall asleep in the middle of the laser tag arena I'd told Max and Iggy I was going up to the hotel room.<p>

I hate cancer.

Sometimes I told myself that I deserved this. I mean, I'm not the nicest person alive, and everything happens for a reason right? Other times I wanted to scream at someone and ask them "why me?" Why me when there's people out there who kill and rape?

And it all just leads me back to the same thing: The world _likes _when bad things happen. But that doesn't make any sense, does it?

I trudged to the hotel room and flopped onto the couch . I couldn't remember what it was like to be normal tired. I only knew what it was like to be cancer tired. My legs felt like led and keeping my eyes open was next to impossible. I hated sleeping, because it scared me. Not because of bad dreams or anything, but because one day I'll fall asleep and I wont wake up.

And from there who knows what happens?

"Faaaanngg, wake up" Max yelled in my ear.

"Im up" I muttered

"No get _up._

That's Max code for. "get your butt up before I rip your ears off". Wonderful

I sat up and gave Max a pointed look .

"Good" She said sounding anxious "Now c'mon. We gotta go to the hospital"

Hospital? Did Max call the hospital while I was asleep?

"Why?" I asked, ready to be mad if she said what I was expecting her to say.

"Iggy fell down the stairs" She exclaimed.

Oh. And there we are, back to square one. The world_ likes_ when bad things happen.

**AN:**

**Ok, I'm sorry. It took me forever to update and now it's just this short filler chapter . Sorry D:**

**Thank you all so much for the reviews, alerts, etc. Love you c:**

**On a not so good side note, I'm considering leaving fan fiction because there's something wrong with me , and I'm not sure what it is yet, but I'll let you know when I figure it out.**

**Thank you all again. **

**R&R? **


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride**

**Fang**

Some people fall down 10 stairs and end up breaking their neck, back, ribs... you get the point. Iggy, however, fell down exactly 23 stairs, and came out with a broken arm. and possible anyone explain to me the logic in this? No? Just another unexclaimed Iggy mystery I guess.

As of now Iggy was in some high end hospital that had both english and italian speaking docters. Iggy's broken arm was one of those kinda gross ones and most definetly painful ones were the bone breaks through the skin. So after they make sure his head isn't all screwed up, they're wheeling him into surgery to you know, but his arm back in place.

So while everyone was in the hospital being all worried and stuff, I was pacing around outside, refusing to go in the hosptial until I had to. I spent enough time there as it is, no need to up the charts.

Not to mention that upon calling mom to inform her of Iggy's mishap she'd still been with Eric and Dylan ,visiting Erics parents. Erics parents had decided that they should go with them, and meeting them was not on my list of "Things to Do While I'm at the Hospital"

"He's done" Max sing songed letting the hospital door fall shut behind her.

I stuffed my hands in my pockets and stopped pacing to lean against the wall, letting out a huff of breath. "So we can go?"

I know, my friend falls down a bunch of stairs and my biggest concern is getting the hell away from the hospital. I'm heartless.

"Um yeah, but they're keeping Iggy until tommorow" She exclaimed coming to stand beside me.

"And we're?" I inquired, knowing that we were supposed to be leaving tommorow.

"Staying at Dylan's grandparents house" She replied.

"And leaving Iggy alone in a hospital that isn't even in our own country?" It was a decent point in my opinion.

"Apparently so"

"Right, so we're not going, right?" Part of me knew that I only wanted to stay here in order to avoid Dylans grandparents, but I also really didn't think we should just leave Iggy here.

"Umm, well we're not allowed to sleep at the hospital, unless iggy's dying or somthing"

Of course, in order to avoid going to dylans grandparents we'd have to kill Iggy. Wonderful.

"But there's a motel type thing 5 or so minutes away"

Clearly she'd already thought this through. One of the reasons I liked Max was because she's so much smarter then me. Hell, I don't need a brain if I have Max.

" Do you think we'd be allowed?" My mom wouldn't be to keen on letting me stay anywhere alone, letalone with Max.

"I already talked to your mom and Eric about it, as long as Dylan goes with us they're fine with it" The faintest hint of a grin appeared on her face as she let me think about what she'd said.

It's times like this that I think I might love Max. I say think and might because how the hell am I supposed to know what love is exactly? Considering the amount of people that say it without meaning it, how is anyone supposed to know what love is? That's why I refuse to tell anyone I love them because how would I know if I'm lying or not?

"You're amazing" I stated taking her hand in mine.

She smirked, blushing slightly in that adorable way that only Max blushes "Thanks"

"Well, let's go see Iggy"

* * *

><p>Iggy on anesthetic is probably the weirdest thing I'd ever seen. Exept for maybe Dylans Grandma, who was one of those people that tried and failed horribly at making themselves look young forever. What with her died brown hair and tank top and jeansa combination. The first thing she'd done when she'd seen me was hug me and freak out about how skinny I was, making it obvious mom hadn't told them yet.<p>

"Faaaaaannng" Iggy whined, glaring profusely at his right arm, seemingly annoyed with the cast that had been formed around it. "Something ate my arm" .

See what I mean by weird?

"That's a cast, Iggy. " Max said from where she was sitting on the window ledge.

Iggy blinked in surprise " Why the poop do I need a cast?"

"Because you fell down the stairs and broke it, 'cause your an idiot" I answered .

"Noo, I'm an Igiot!" He then proceeded to giggle like a little girl at his own horrible attempt at a joke. "Get it guys? Iggy plus idiot? Igiot!"

"Is this what he's like when he's drunk?" Max whispered.

I shrugged, unable to answer that particular question due to the fact that I'd never seen Iggy drunk. Though I think whatever the hospital had him on was a close second.

"Iggy, Max and I have to go and... do stuff. We'll see you tomorow, ok?"

Iggy nodded slowly "Mmmk. Just don't let the snails get you, k?"

I nodded silently, not really sure how to respond to a statment such as that. We said a final goodbye to Iggy before exiting the room to meet up with mom and eric in the hospitals waiting room.

"How is he?" Eric asked almost as soon as we walked into the room .

"Messed up" Max answered happily "He says to watch out for the snails"

* * *

><p>Aproximately 30 and a half minutes later we were settled in some cheap italian motel, and my mom, Eric, and Eric's parents were on their way to Eric's paren't house claiming that theymd be back at 12ish tommorow.<p>

Of course the room we'd gotten only had 2 beds and a pull out couch. Therefore it had been decided that Max and Dylan would get a bed, and I'd get the couch . Actually, it had been more of a forced desicion then it was anything else. Dylan had walked into the room claiming that "It's one in the freaking morning, I am going to bed" before flopping onto one of the 2 comfy looking beds. So Dylan had taken one of them, and I wasn't letting Max sleep on the couch.

For once I, however, was not tired, and apparently Max wasn't either. So we did what any teenage couple would do when left without adult supervision in a not so nice motel, we watched a movie. The Lion King, to be exact.

"I used to watch this movie everyday when I was little" Max whispered, tucking here feat under her and resting her head on my shoulder.

Running my hand through her slightly knotted, yet undescribably beautiful hair, I replied " I know. Do you remember when we had that sleep over, when we were 6 or something? and you made me watch it about a thousand times"

It was times like this when I'd give everything to go back to those days, when everything was simple, and I was happier then anyone else I'd known. I'd had my dad and Max, two of my favourite people in the world. I hadn't been sick, and therefore I'd had big dreams and dying was something laughable. Now I couldn't go one day without thinking about death and how badly and desperately I wanted to live.

"Yeah, but then you siad something about how if you had to see the lion king one more time you'd die" she said quitely .

"Death by lion king" I murmered, trying to sound humerous.

Max didn't reply, just gazed silently at the movie that was playing.

When it was over she yawned, letting her eyes droop shut " Fang?" she asked drowsily.

"Mm?" I asked, just as tired as she was.

"I love you" she smiled, eyes still closed "You don't have to say anything back, I just wanted you to know"

I don't think I could've said anything back, considering how my heart was slamming against my chest. Instead I just kissed her forhead softly and said "Go to sleep, Max"

She smiled, half asleep, looking every bit like the angel she was.

**An: ugh. the day I aquire the skill to write decent fax will be the day that... I start writing decent fax ( Gosh, I'm so creative)**

**I'm sorry for taking so long to update. I started another new story, and then I was depressed and just feeling crappy, then I was at the hospital, then I was busy buying and beating the new kingdom hearts...and yeah :/**

**Thanks so frackin much for the reviews and alerts and such. You guys seriously have almost made me cry :c I also just realized we're almost at 200 reviews (and not one of them is bad or a flame)May I just say, sdfvgbhnjkmilo ;u; you people. I love you.**

**On a side note, I need more fics to read so if you have any suggestions...**

**also I'd like to take a moment to discuss my profile pic. I freaking LOVE it. literally. He's just so beautiful in that picture 8l**

**K, I'll shut up now. bye .**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: If I owned Maximum Ride I wouldn't have made the last book a big disapointment. K? just saying...**

_Date: Tues Jan 22 _

**Max**

"C'mon, just sign the damn thing!" Iggy urged Fang for about the 50th time in 5 minutes, holding out a marker and his casted arm.

Fang gave him a dubious look "I'm not signing your freaking cast, Iggy"

This argument had been going on for aproximetly 5 minutes. I was just about ready to tell Fang to just sign the freaking thing so that Iggy would shut I doubt that would go over well with Fang and the crappy mood he was in.

Ever since we'd gotten back from Italy about a week ago, Fang had been all mood swingy. Actually, he was the perfect example of what a guy would be like if they did the whole pms thing. Sometimes he'd be perfectly happy and Fangish, but then he'd randomly dive into this shitty state where he was a mixed of depressed, grumpy, and morbid. Like now, for instance.

"But why?" Iggy pouted, narowing his eyes at Fang.

Fang gave an exasperated sigh " Because I don't want to"

Yeah, when Fang was in his mood he didn't want to do much of anything.

"I'm going home" Fang announced, getting up from the table we'd occupied in the cafeteria. It was just like Fang to get up and leave right in the middle of school. To be honest, I didn't really understand why he still went to school.

"I'll talk to you later, or something" Yeah, or something.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Iggy grumbled, scribbling on his cast which was already covered in the signatures and doodles of his the entire freaking school.

I wondered that myself. It was probably a mixture of: Cancer, Dylan, his mom being engaged to eric, and me telling him I loved him. In my defense though, I was half asleep and not thinking properly. Even if it was true, it's not like i had to go and blab it out to him.

"He's probably just tired" I responded, picking at my barely edible cafe food.

Yeah, if only being tired was his only problem.

**Fang**

I couldn't explain it, why I was so on edge, that is.

No, scratch that. I_ could_ explain it, but only in the way the doctor had described. Yesterday my mom had decided that she'd had enough of my not so good mood, so, she did what she always does -called the hospital, and handed the problem over to someone else. It took the doctor 15 minutes to decide that I was depressed, probably because of cancer, my mom getting remarried, and crap ton of other stuff.

Yeah, I'm not just a cancer kid anymore, I'm a depressed cancer kid. Now I was supposed to start seeing. one of those nifty therapist guys who specializes in "cancer depression". And that, is why I'd left school. Not because Iggy was pestering me to sign his cast, or because I felt like it, but because I had to go talk about my feelings with a total stranger. Again.

I was shocked( well not really, but you get what I'm saying) to see my mom parked outside of the school, as I was positive I was supposed to walk home. It made sense that she picked me up though, what with the insane amount of rain that was spilling from the cloud covered sky.

"It's raining" Mom stated once I was in the car.

"No really?" I gestured to my now drenched clothes. I know that my mom is supposed to be a lawyer, but sometimes she's far from being smart.

Drumming her fingers against the steering wheel she replied " Tjere's no need to be rude, Nick"

"Sorry" I muttered, though I wasn't really sorry at all "I just don't see the point in this. So what if I'm depressed? What difference will it make if I kill myself, or die of cancer?" In my opinion there wasn't any difference. No amount of therapy was going to help me.

"Nick!" mom gasped, looking absolutely mortified.

"Sorry" I said yet again, resisting the urge to roll my eyes.

I guess I was just full of lies today.

* * *

><p>"And do <em>you<em> think your depressed?" Dr. Nichols said, pen poised at the top of his note pad.

Looking up at the clock I said "No? I don't know" _another 30 minutes to go._

I didn't like ,very much, in fact I hated him. Sure I'd only known the man for 30 minutes, but it was long enough for me to make an opinion. Infact, I could make of reasons I have for not liking him.

1. He's bald, and therefore reminds me of the schools math teacher. Not a good thing.

2. He asks stupid questions. How the hell am I supposed to know if I'm depressed? It's _his_ job to figure that out.

3. He's one of those people that breathe heavily. It's annoying.

I'll stop there, before those 3 points turn into 1000.

"Mhm, and why do you think your depressed?"

What? First he wants to know if I think I'm depressed, then he wants to know why? The least the guy could do was try to make sense.

"Well" I started, pretending to concentrate on the the zipper of my hoodie "It could be because my mom is engaged to a tool. Or, it may be because I'm dying. Your guess is as good as mine " I drawled.

_22 more minutes_

"I see" He replied, scribbling in his book.

Ugh, this guy said even less then I did.

"Well, I think that's it for today" He said slowly, still writing who know what down. "I'll talk to you mom for a quick second, and then you're good to go"

Go? 14 minutes early? Looks like today is my lucky day. _Yeah, right._

* * *

><p>"Soo" My mom cautiously broke the silence that the car had been wrapped in for the past 10 minutes. "He presribed some anti depressants, and wants you to see him every once in awhile"<p>

I could've guessed that, the going back and seeing him more part. But anti depressants? Really? It's not like I was about to purposely end my life.

"Great" I muttered, putting as much sarcasm into one word as I could.

Mom gave a frustrated huff of breath "You know what Nick? As much as I love you, it'll be nice to not have to deal with your crap anymore"

I'd known this, I'd _known_ that my mom didn't care about me dying. Yet hearing her say it? It hurt, more then I thought it would. More then words should be able to hurt anyone.

"Mom? Stop the car" I had to get out. Before I put my hand through the window, or my moms fae, for that matter. I was mad, hurt, _depressed_. I was done.

"Look, Nick, I'm Sorry"

Yeah, I'm sure she was " Let me out"

"No. You're overeacting. Besides, it's still raining" Of course, she'd be worried about the rain. of all things.

"Just let me out of the freaking car" I managed to say, on the verge of just loosing it. Loosing my mind, my temper, everything.

2 minutes more and the car had stopped, and I was out.

I started walking with only one destination in mind.

Max, I had to see Max.

* * *

><p><strong>An:<strong>

**Soo... any guesses as to what's gonna happen in the next chapter? **

**Thanks for the reviews, favs, alerts, stuff :D they're literally one of the only things helping me to not be depressed 8l**

**Also We're 13(? maybe more) Away from 200 reviews c: So if we reach 200, the next chapter will have something that you guys have been asking for :p (no not a magical cure, if that happens it wouldn't be til the last chapter)**

**On a side note, I've been creepily happy because 3 hours ago I bought tickets to Marianas Trench's "Face The Music" tour. Considering that it's marianas trench, they're playing a full set, and cirque du soliel is designing stuff for themm... I think it will be pretty freaking sweet.**

**ok, i need to go finish my part for the collab I'm starting with 6l4va is me ... and for the other collab im doing...**

**Yeah, bye :D**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I own three floor tickets to Face The Music, but I don't own Maximum Ride. Personally, I'd rather have the tickets. Just saying.**

_Date: Wed Jan 24_

**Max**

When someone knocks on my door at 12:20 at night I always assume it's one of 3 things.

mom forgot her key again and is therefore locked out.

neighbours asking if we have any sugar, becuase they're "making a midnight snack" . This happens alot more then you'd think

3. A really polite robber.(it could happen)

So I'm sure you can imagine how disapointed I was when instead of a polite robber, I got a drenched Fang. I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but the guy looked like total crap.

"Hi" I said, not really knowing what else to say.

Rolling his eyes he wrapped his arms around his own shivering body "Can I come in? I'm fucking freezing"

If he hadn't looked about 3 seconds away from getting hypthermia I might have told him to watch his language, as it was, he_ did_ look 3 seconds away from hypothermia. So of course I let him in.

Once we were standing awkwardly in my living room, Fang shivering like he was in the middle of the arctic without any clothes on, and me wondering what the hell he'd been doing walking around at night in the middle of the rain.

"You look like you're about to pass out" I informed him. It was true, he was paler then I'd ever seen him before, except for his lips and the tips of his fingers which were a light shade of blue.

"I'm fine" It was a typical Fang response, claiming he was fine when he obviously wasn't.

"So" time to ask the most obvious question I could "Why are you here"

He shook his head, sending drops of water everywhere in the process "I had a fight with my mom."

Ok, I didn't really see why that had given him the urge to come here when he just could've phoned me.

"We were in the car, so I got out" He shrugged.

That made sense I guess, but I swear the next time I see his mom I'm going to slap her for just letting Fang "get out". From what I could tell, Fang's mom was selfish. Clearly to selfish to get over her anger for a second and think : _hey, the kid__'__s got cancer, maybe I shouldn__'__t let him out to wander through the rain in the middle of freaking january._

"Oh" Yeah, I know I was being completely useless. It wasn't on purpose though, I honestly just didn't know what to do. I'd never done one of those first aid courses, and I definetly wasn't a docter.

"You should probably sit down" I ventured, noticing how he'd started swaying slightly like he was ready to just topple over.

He shook his head, staring off into nothing and making me wonder just how out of it he was.

I thank god that it was at that moment that I heard the front door open, a sure fire sign that my mom was home from work (or the not so polite robber had chosen now to arrive) she was a vet, and how different could Fang be from the animals she treated?Not that I think Fang is an animal...

"Max!" Mom yelled, as she usually does upon arriving at home.

"Living room" I yelled back.

"The rain out there is mad" mom said, apearing in the living rooms doorway "It hasn't rained this much since-" She cut off when she saw Fang, the shivering mess that he was, standing right in the middle of our living room, drops off water falling from his clothes and onto the floor.

If my mom was one of those uptight moms who must know everything about everything, she would've interviewed Fang before even considering helping him. Luckily, she was not an uptight mom in anyway shape or form and almost instantly dragged Fang away to the bathroom. I hoped it was to shove him into a hot shower, and not do to any of the other things people do while in the bathroom. I also hoped that he was "fine" enough to get in the shower himself, without...adult.. assistance.

**Fang**

So bailing out of my car in the middle of the night while it was raining? Not my smartest move. First of all, as I'd told Max, I was fucking freezing. By freezing i meant I could'nt feel my fingers or toes. I'd also managed to develope one of the worst headaches I've ever had. You could hit me in the head with a baseball bat and it would hurt less then this, believe me, I'd know (Lets just say Iggy had never been good at baseball)

Also, taking a shower in burning hot water while you're freezing _hurts_.

And on top of all that I know need to explain to both Max and her mom why I was here. I'd already kinda exclaimed it to Max, but I was sure she'd want all of the exact problem with that is that I'm not in the mood to talk about how my mom had practically told me she'll be happy when I'm gone.

The worst part about all of this was that, if I really thought about it, my mom had, had every right to say what she did. I'd never been an easy person to live with in the first place, but now she also had to make sure I wasn't on the verge of dying and deal with this whole "depression" deal. Not to mention that I was constantly showing just how unhappy I was with the whole Eric and Dylan thing.

So yeah, it made sense that she'd just want to get this dying thing over with.

Finished with my shower, I turned the water off, dried off as quikly as I could, and pulled on the clothes Mr. Martinez had left for me. I assumed they'd been Max's dads, which was just weird because her dad was currently in a hospital for the mentally disabled.

Now that I wasn't on the verge of passing out, and was dressed in clothes that belonged to an insane man, it was time to go and have a "serious" conversation with Max and friends. Freaking awesome.

"You're mom really said that?" Max asked after I'd finished explaining myself to both her and her mom. Her mom had then left the room claiming that I'd be staying in their guest room, and so she was going to go get it ready. The fact that she had to get it ready didn't really make it sound all that promising. But hey, beggars can't be choosers, right?

"Yup" I responded popping the "p" and sitting next to Max on their couch.

"God, she's a bitch"

I guess that's how other people would see my mom as. It's what I'd thought of her to, until I realized that it wasn't like she was going to just stop living her life because I had to stop living mine.

I shrugged before leaning my head back and yawning. Even though I wasn't freezing anymore my head still hurt like heck, and I was pretty sure I'd end up with some form of cold. As long as it wasn't like that fever I'd had a month or so ago, I could care less.

"Nah, she's just saying what everyone else is thinking"

In typical Max fashion, she answered my comment by simply hugging me. I liked how Max wasn't one of those people who think everything can be solved with words. Infact, there were alot of things I liked about Max. Like how she basically knew everything about me even though we'd only recently re-become friends. I don't mean that in a "shes a creepy stalker" kinda way. I also like how she could answer my questions before I even asked them.

"Love you" I murmered, not even thinking about what I was saying. It may not have been the full on "i love you" , but atleast I was getting somewhere, right? Yeah I know, I'm a terrible boyfriend, but I was trying.

It was then, hugging my bestfriend, turned girlfriend/girl i am in love with, that I realized just how badly I _didn__'__t_ want to die, how badly I wished I'd just done the chemo. But time was running out, and it was abit to late to change my mind now, wasn't it?

Who knows, maybe if I'm really lucky a miracle willl happen, but then again, miracles don't exist, right? Atleast not in real life they don't.

**An.**

**I don't like this chapter. at all. Honestly, I sometimes wonder why you guys read this story, I mean it's basically just a bunch of my thoughts on how messed up the world is, I just added a plot line. **

**Anywaysss the fax will pick up after this, ok?**

**Thanks so much for the freaking reviews, alerts, favs, stuff. :D i freaking love you guys.**

**This would've been up like 2 days ago, but twitter was being distracting, and then Fanfiction wouldn't let me log in so I couldn't put this up :/**

**K, my hands are freezing, I'm out. :p**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: No.**

_Date: Thurs Jan 25_

"Why can't I just get Iggy to do it?" I asked Max, who in turn rolled her eyes.

"Because he's not here right now, it's _just_ your mom, and you need to change"

_Just_ my mom? Really?More like the freaking devil.

Incase you hadn't guessed yet, we were currently sitting in Max's car parked outside of her house. I was supposed to be running inside, changing out of my somewhat damp clothes and into completely dry ones. Problem being that I knew my mom didn't work today, and I wasn't in the mood to talk to her.

Seriously, what would I say? "_hey mom, I know you don__'__t wnat me alive and stuff, so i__'__m just here to get some clothes and leave... Oh my voice sounds funny? Yeah, that__'__s just because I picked up some killer cold after freezing my butt of last night. No biggie.__"_

Yeah, I don't think so. The "having a cold " thing wouldn't help either. It would give her an excuse to lecture me on overreacting and how I should have more common sense.

"You could it" I suggested.

"You're of a little girl then Angel is" She muttered, looking like she wanted to hit me. "Just go in, use your badass ninja skills to grab some clothes, and like jump out the window or something"

Jump out the window? She'd obviously been spending to much time with Iggy.

"Just be thankful your boyfriend _has_ badass ninja skills" I said getting out of the car.

She snorted "I'm just thankful my boyfriend is alive"

"Yup" I closed the door "There's always that"

**...**

So it turns out my badass ninja skills hadn't been needed. Why is that? Well, it was because my mom was sitting right there at the kitchen table reading the paper. So obviously she'd seen me as soon as I walked in.

"Nick" She said simply, setting her paper down on the table.

Oh god, here comes the lecture.

"I'm sorry."

Well, I wasn't expecting that, at all. Now how to explain to her that it really did not matter if she was sorry. Sorry is such a stupid word. I mean, if you have to say it you've obviously screwed someone over. So what's the freaking point? you're obviously not sorry if you did something to hurt them in the first place.

"Ya" I walked past her, not even bothering to exclaim what I was doing. Afterall, she didn't want to deal with my crap anymore, right?

**...**

"So where to now?" Max asked 5 minutes later , after I'd ignored my mom, filled a bag with clothes, and gotten the hell out of there.

"School?" Isn't that what most kids did on thursdays?

"Nah, let's skip" She waved a dismissive hand. I almost wanted to remind her of the whole "both hands on the wheel" thing.

"I hope you realize that if we keep skipping, we're not going to graduate" Not entirely true, I'm pretty sure that as long as we got all our credits we were good. Considering we both only needed like 2 more...

"Hey that's on your listy thing, right? Let's do that, the rest of the list I mean"

The list? I'd totally forgotten about it.."The list is dumb" It really was, 90% of it was just ridiculous things like "eat a piece of sushi" Yup, big dreams.

"It is _not_ dumb"

"I can't even remember the list" The sad thing was that I was being completely honest. How was I supposed to remember 13 stupid things when I was busy being in Italy.

"I remember some of it" she shrugged " I did write it out, afterall"

Well, I was screwed.

"I really don't want to do this" I stated, looking with what I'm sure was a horrified expression at the headphones Max was holding out to me.

" It's just one song, Fang, be a manly man!"

How did she expect me to still even be considered a man after this? This had to be the most unmanly thing ever.

" But he sounds like a girl" I whined, hoping she'd just let me not do this.

She snorted and shoved the headphones at me,"_You_ sound like a girl"

Did I mention the headphones were pink? Regardless I popped them into my ears and braced myself for the worst.

Max pressed play on the I-pod and the most horrible thing I'd ever heard in my life filled my ears. Why had I put this of all things on the list?

" Max" I muttered , when it was done, pulling the earbuds out of my ear and handed them to Max " I never ever want to ever listen to Justin Bieber again."

**An:**

**No offense to bieber fans at all :o I like the music I like, you like what you like, don't even concern yourself with my opinion k? I didn't mean for this to be offensive . **

**Soooo before you kill me cause this was really short , I do have reasons.**

**1. The next chapter is long with tons of Fax. Maybe tons of fax. I should hire a fax writer.**

**2. I need ideas for the bucket list. help, maybe? Chapter will be dedicated to youuuu**

**Thank you all so much for all the reviews favs and alert :o You make me feel like i may not be all that bad.**

**Ok so I spent the past few hours freaking out because Kevvy(aka, one of my favourite people ever, aka part of the amazing band Fake Shark-Real Zombie) Replied to something I sent him. I love him so freaking much and I don't think he understands how much it means to me ;u;**

**Chapter is dedicated tooooo:**

**My friend ( yes, i'm calling you my friend, get over it k?) : darknite47**

**And**

**Skywriter26**

**K im leaving cause my leg hurts so freakin much. bye c:**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride**

**Fang**

"Sushi is disgusting" I informed Max.

What had possessed me to put something as ridiculous as "eat sushi" on my bucket list? I've hated sea food since I was 5. Did I think that dying would make my tastebuds grow some kind of special appreciation for it?

"It's not that bad" Max replied, eating another piece to prove her point.

I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at her, not caring if it was a childish action.

She rolled her eyes in response"So what do you wanna do next?"

I shrugged "You're the one who memorized the list."

* * *

><p>We were walking through one of the bigger parks, I had no idea why but it's where Max had said we had to go. It was late in the day and the park was empty except for a few small children playing in the sandbox while their parents watched them.<p>

Watching the children got me thinking about my own childhood, about how easy and simple it had been. I'd been happy and totally oblivious to the bad things in the world. Death and diseases seemed like a made up thing. I would have never guessed that i'd loose my dad, or end up with cancer.

Those kids probably didn't know about the bad things yet would one day though, they'd be slapped in the face with realization that for everything good in the world there was something bad. Maybe they'd get though all that though and grow up and live their lives out. I hoped so, No one deserved to have their chance at a future taken away.

"Ok " Max called cheerfully " I know what we're gonna do, list item number 7"

"I don't want to" I said quietly.

"Aw come on, Fang, it'll be fun and then we can go to my house and watch that show where they eat weird stuff"

I shook my head, "No, I don't want to. I don't want to do any of it"

Max opened her mouth to speak but I held up my hand signaling her to stop. "I don't want to do the stupid bucket list. I don't want to have to figure out what I want from life right now, Max. I want to have as much time as others to do what makes me happy but I don't get that because I have this stupid disease."

I was mad. Mad at my mom for being so willing to replace me, mad at the disease that was surely going to kill me, Mad at myself for not even trying to fight it.

"I'm sorry, Fang" Max whispered. "You don't deserve this"

"I don't want to die" I responded.

"I know " She tried to hold my hand but I pulled it away.

"I don't want to die!" I yelled it this time, as if maybe someone would hear and swoop in with a way to prevent it. "I want to grow up and get married and have kids. I want to have a midlife crisis I want to see what the future will be like. I like feeling, and thinking and just existing. I do not want to die" I choked the last scentence out, unable to continue.

My hands were shaking and I could feel a lump forming in the back of my throat.I felt Max wrap her arms around me in a hug. "I know,Fang, I'm sorry"

* * *

><p><strong>An: <strong>

**Hey um so i****'****m back?**

**I know i didn****'****t update for a long time and then I said I was just completely quitting so probably none of you care for this fic anymore but whatever.**

**I couldn****'****t update because i couldn****'****t write anything. My depression got really bad and my anxiety got really bad and i****'****ve been struggling with self harm and I just haven****'****t had the motivation to write anything.**

**But i****'****m trying to replace all of the bad stuff with good things and writing is a good thing so ya...**

**I****'****m really sorry for taking forever..**

**I****'****m really sorry for the crappy ness of this chapter. I****'****m kinda just trying to get back into the story. The next one should be better.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: I don****'****t own Maximum Ride**

"I have an idea" Max said, pulling away so that she could grab my hand.

"Max, I don't want-"

She cut me off by using her other hand to cover my mouth. "It isn't something on the list, okay? Just trust me."

I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out of my mouth to lick her hand.

She squealed and pulled her hand away from my mouth waving it in the air. "That's disgusting"

"You just squealed" Squealing was one of the most un Max like things she could've done.

She threw her arms up and sighed "You licked my hand, I think i had the right to squeal"

I shrugged "You're cute when you squeal"

She flushed a bright shade of red and folded her arms across her chest "Whatever, let's go"

* * *

><p>A pet store, Max had brought me to a pet store.<p>

"My mom is a vet, so she really loves animals, and when I was little she'd take me here every once in awhile. I wasn't really allowed to have a pet though, so I'd just look" Max told me as we walked past the section of the store that held fish and other aquatic creatures.

"I found Nemo" I said in reply, pointing to a tank that contained a group of the orange, black, and white striped fish.

We made our way around the store which was considerably big. Max had insisted on spending a full 20 minutes looking at lizards that didn't seem as interesting as she made them out to be.

At the very back of the store they kept puppies in small rooms with windows.

"I've always wanted a dog" I said as we passed a big golden lab.

"You should get one now" Matt suggested .

It wasn't a bad idea except my mom would kill me and they were expensive. "I can't afford it"

"You could get on of the ones they have to get rid of to make room for more, they're alot less expensive" She suggested with a gesture towards the room they'd be in.

"But my mom-"

"Do you honestly care about what your mom would say, Fang?"

No, I didn't. Not at all

* * *

><p>"I can't believe you got a pug" Max said for maybe the 30th time since we'd left the pet store.<p>

We were in her van with a bunch of essential things for dogs, and a pug. My pug. There had been more "manly" dogs for sale, but I liked pugs. Sue me.

"Hey, Bubbles isn't just a pug, he's my pug and therefore he inherits my manly genes" Yes, I had named the pug Bubbles after the things that are created when you mix soap with water.

"It's a dog not your kid" Max replied with a very Max like snort.

"He's the closest thing I'll get" I pointed out.

Max shot me a look that said "Stop thinking about the dying thing" before she parked the van. "Okay we're here, good luck"

By "here" she meant my house by "goodluck" she meant "i hope your mom doesn't kill you when she finds out about the dog"

I leaned over the dash, making sure not to knock Bubbles off of my lap, and hugged Max "Thank you for helping" I whispered "I love you"

I had alot more to thank Max for, and I hope she understood that by"helping" I also meant thank you for being there and making me feel not so scared about what was happening.

I pulled away quickly not expecting her to reply. Now, I had to face my mom.

* * *

><p>"You got a dog" My mom stated, pressing her lips together tightly afterwards, as if just saying it caused her stress.<p>

"He's a pug" I added "His name is Bubbles"

"Eric, is allergic to dogs" She responded "You'll have to take it back"

It. I'd have to take "it" back because Eric, a man she'd only just gotten engaged toc, was allergic to dogs. Nevermind that her only real kid was dying and had never had a pet and might never get the chance to.

"I don't want to"

She let out a sigh "Oh come on,Nick, don't act like a child. It's not like the dog is good for your health either."

"I'm not acting like a child . I just want to experience as much as I can before I die, because if you haven't realized I_ am_ going to die. Not in a few years or alot of years but soon, Mom, as in a few months. The dog won't change that."

She'd flinched when I'd said die, like the word physically hurt her, like maybe she did care. She closed her eyes as a shaky breath escaped from her lips "Okay, Nick" She opened her eyes "but he'll have to stay outside or in the basement when you aren't here. If you could train him that would be really nice to"

I registered what she said slowly, not fully believing that she'd agreed so easily."Thank you" I said before giving her a small hug. I don't know why I hugged her, maybe it was because I was excited about Bubbles, or maybe it was because even if she sometimes wasn't the nicest, she was still my mom.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: this chapter was really short and bad and ugh but it will be important to later chapter.<strong>

**I don****'****t know how frequent the updates will be because of stuff but i****'****ll try to get chapters out as soon as I can. This fic is almost done though so :)**

**Thank you guys for still reading and not giving up on this fic . i love you.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: I don****'****t own Maximum Ride**

_May 14th_

**Max**

_How long does it take for someone to put on a damn suit_ I thought as i squirmed around in the plastic chair I was being forced to wait in.

We were currently at one of those stores that only sells really formal clothes waiting for Fang because he had to find a suit for his mom's wedding. Eric and Dylan were there as well which was why Fang had wanted to drag me and Iggy along to, so that he wouldn't be stuck with two people he wasn't so fond of.

"Trying on suits takes time and practice" Iggy replied from where he was sitting cross legged on the floor with Bubbles in his lap.

Fang had had Bubbles for about four months now and they were as close as a dog and their owner could get. Iggy had also taken an extreme liking to the small wrinkly faced dog.

"Practice?" I questioned "To put on a suit?"

Iggy nodded while petting Bubble"s ears "Yes young padawan. To put on the suit practice he must" Bubbles let out a small grunt as if agreeing with Iggy.

_Oook_

"Excuse me," A fairly perky voice that came from an elderly woman said "Dogs aren't allowed in this store, you'll have to take it outside."

"IT?" Iggy all but screamed while placing his hands over Bubbles's ears "Bubbles, is not an it, how dare you" He then stood up while scooping Bubbles up in his arms at the same time "We'll be back" He stated as he stalked out of the store.

I shooke my head as the woman, who I assumed work there, stared after Iggy, a befuddled look plastered across her face. "W-well" She said eventually "The men will be out of the change rooms soon"

I almost laughed at the fact that she'd just called Dylan and Fang men but refrained as she'd already suffered through the storm that was Iggy.

Just then a door opened followed by a shuffling noise that was Dylan and Fang being pushed (literally) out of the changing rooms by Eric. Fang and Dylan were both in your classic black and white suits except they had bright blue bowties inplace of a black one.

"I look ridiculous" Dylan stated, showing obvious displeasure as he tucked on the sleeve.

"You look ridiculous?"Fang asked as if what Dylan admitted he's actually an alien "Atleast yours actually fits you"

That's when I actually looked both boys up and down to see that Fang's suit was indeed way to large for him. Fang was incredibly skinny due to his sickness and lack of eating. He probably weighed less than suit didn't necassarily look bad on him, just a little to big.

"You both look fine" Eric said happily. He himself was still wearing the clothes he'd come in. He'd be doing a seperate fitting for his.

"Ya, you look like men" I supplied, using the women's word from before.

Fang sighed and walked over to take what had previously been Iggy's seat. He slumoed down in it with his eyes closed, obviously exhausted. His exhaustion did not come as a surprose as his cancer was getting worse and his energy was almost nonexistent. He'd even dropped out of school because of it, giving up any chance of him graduating. He now spent most of his time at his home sleeping or reading or watching tv .

"Well, I guess you two should get changed back into your clothes and then you can go" Eric said.

Dylan obliged happily and turned back into the changing sighedc again and slowly got out of his chair so he could follow Dylan.

**Fang**

Suit shopping is not fun. Having someone poke you with needles so they could make sure the suit fit as best as it could was not fun. Being extremely tired and unwilling to do anything was not fun. Spending the day with your soon to bee step dad and brother however, was both unfun, and awkward.

I stepped out of the small stall I was in, now in my usual t shirt and jeans attire. Eric was standing on a pedastal with employees buzzing over him to get the suit to fit the suit."Hey,Fang"

"Hey" I replied.

"I just wanted to thankyou for coming. I know you probably would have preferred to come on your own but I really appreciate that you didn't. I'm glad we had this time to bond"

Bond? Didn't bonding require two people actually talking to eachother and not just to thank the other for going shopping with them? We hadn't bonded, I'd had no choice but to go with him. I Smiled nonetheless and nodded before waving and going to find max in the front entrance.

"Where's Iggy" I asked her, noticing that both Iggy and Bubbles where MIA.

"Got kicked out" She got out of her chair "Dogs aren't supposed to be in the store"

That was weird, considering they hadn't had any signs saying that animals weren't allowed inside. There was no point dwelling on the stores lack of signs though as we had approximatley 30 minutes to get to the movie theatre where we'd watch a movie (duh) and then go to Max's house for a "sleep over" which had thought would be "fabutastic".

"Well" I said pulling my coat on "Let's go find him"

* * *

><p>"THAT WAS AWESOME" Iggy declared as we (finally) got into Max's house.<p>

"Iggy, we got kicked out " Max reminded him, which was true.

"Ya but only 'cause the world is filled with assholes" he retorted which, was also true.

After we'd found Iggy and gotten Dylan to take Bubbles home, we'd gone to a movie. It took less than 5 minutes to get in a fight with a guy who had been trying to force a girl into a bathroom. Iggy had swooped in and promptly punched the guy while yelling stuff about female rights . It had been a very Iggy like thing to do.

"I am Hero!" He yelled happily, punching the air.

I nodded " Yup, that was pretty great of you, Iggy"

His grin only grew "I could be a super hero. My alias could be Nude Man"

"You want to help people not scar them for life" Max muttered.

"Don't ruin my groove" He replied with ease before skipping off towards Max's kitchen "I'll make popcorn, and then we can watch a movie here"

This isn't the first time we'd had one of Iggy's "sleep overs" and so it wasn't the first time Iggy had been to Max's house. and so we both assumed he'd be okay doing something easy like making popcorn. We were very a matter of minutes a loud "BANG" errupted from the kitchen.

"Mmaaax" Iggy's voice came seconds after "I think I blew up your microwave"

**AN:**

**Alot of bad things have happened this week and I really hope that you****'****re all okay.**

**bad chapter i know.**

**Next chapter will be better and have fax . There are only 3 or so chapters left for this fic so it****'****s almost done.**

**Thanks for reading.**


	26. Chapter 26

**AN : I do not own Maximum Ride**

_july 5th_

**Fang**

I would never understand why mom and Eric thought that it was necassary to get married in a high end hotel 3 hours away from where we lived. There was plenty of high end hotels withing a 10 minute radius of our house but no, here we were in tuxedo's and dress's with 103 other people so that my mom could get married again.

It wasn't all that bad as mom had invited Max and Iggy to the wedding and had agreed to drive them both here. The drive had consisted of Iggy singing along in a very off key tone to Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. While Max fidgeted around in the light blue dress she'd chosen to put on.

Tuxedos are not comfortable in any way, even if mine was to big. I'd been in it for 3 hours now and the wedding was only just getting started. I was supposed to walk my mom down the aisle as her dad had passed years ago and she thought it was the perfect solution.

Mom's dress was white (which I guess is pretty obvious) with a light blue sash. It was long and strapless with flowers embroidered into the skirts and that's all I could say about it as I do not know a thing about dresses. "Are you ready to go?" I asked her as the brides maids had already gone down the aisle.

"Um, ya" She replied with a nervous edge to her voice.

"It'll be ok" I assured her like the good son I am "You just have to walk down there and say I do at the right time"

She nodded "Are you sure you're okay with this?"

I didn't see how it would matter if I was okay with it or not. if she'd really cared about my opinion she would have asked before getting engaged. "Ya, sure"

She bit her lip in a nervous manner " I know that things have been hard and I'm sorry that this all happened while you've been dealing with your.. Illness. I love you, Nick, I do and I'm so glad that you're my son."

I did not expect that. Mom wasn't one to express loving emotion towards anyone really." Ya, I'm glad that you won't be alone when I... you know" And I guess I really was. I didn't want her to be alone and even though it didn't feel good to know that Dylan would soon be her only son, it was better than her being left completely on her own.

"Ok" she said "Ok, let's go"

so we went.

* * *

><p>After the wedding while everyone was moving to the reception I snuck to my hotel room. I had no interest in talking to people about my thoughts about my mom's marriage, or eating food, or dancing. I was exhausted physically and mentally and I just wanted to sleep.<p>

The hotel room wasn't anything special, a bathroom, a bed, a tv, a miny fridge, and a door that connected to Max's room. Mom wasn't aware that Max and I were "dating" and had had no problem with her taking the room next to mine.

I pulled my shoes and socks off living them by the door.I took the Tuxedo jacket off and stuffed it into my suitcase before flopping down onto the both huge and comfortable bed. It was quiet and I was tired and downstairs my mom was dancing with her new husband Iggy was probably scaring the guests while Max enjoyed all the food. Everyone was happy.

I was just about to fall asleep when there was two small taps on the door that connected to Max's room.I said something that I hope sounded like "come in" and so Max did. She had changed out of her dress and into a baby blue tank top and shorts pajama set. she padded over to the bed and layed down next to me taking my hand in hers. "Hey" .

"Why aren't you at the reception?"

She shrugged "I noticed you weren't there so I ate then came here. I'd rather spend time with you then a bunch of strangers"

"Silly, Max"

She pushed herself so that she was sitting up and looked down at me. I followed her actions, knowing that she had something to say. "Fang, I can hang out with strangers whenever I want but I don't know how much time I have to spend with you and I -"

I kissed her gently cutting her off. I didn't want to talk or think about the future because this wasn't the future, this was now. This was me and Max and in that moment the fact that we were young and I had cancer and soon I wouldn't be around didn't matter. When she tried to talk again I kissed her again and this time she kissed me back.

"Max" I whispered after we'd pulled apart, holding her body as close to mine as I could. "Marry me".

Her head snapped up to look at me, her brown eyes opened wide "Fang?"

"Sorry" I shook my head, I could feel the stinging sensation of tears trying to fall. "I just, I love you. If I could stay, if I wasn't dieing, then that's what I'd do. I'd graduate and go to college and if you still wanted me by then I'd ask you to marry me"

"Ok " She said letting her head fall to my chest " Ok, Fang. We'll get married, just don't die" She whispered, I could feel something wet through my shirt and I knew she was crying. "Just stay".

"I can't"

A quiet sob shook her body and she looked up at me again" I love you"

In response I brought my head to hers and kissed again

We may not have forever, but we had this night and if that's all we got then I was thankful for it.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong>

**Stay awake, get a grip and get out. you****'****re safe from the weight of the world now. Just take a second to set things straight. I****'****ll be fine even if i****'****m not always right, dedication takes a life time but dreams only last for the night...**

**hey. I didn****'****t want to write the wedding because I do not know exactly how weddings work. You guys can decide if Max and Fang did anything besides kissing but I will not write a lemon sorry. Sorry for the bad quality chapter... there****'****s only two chapters left so..**

**Thanks for reading.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or the song "Off with her head" by ghost town.**

**Fang:**

Tired, I was so incredibly tired. Not tired like I needed a nap. Tired like every part of my body was its own being and they all wanted to sleep. My muscles ached with every move I made, and each time I'd think _This is it, this is what dying feels like._ Then I'd remember that I'd been "dying " for a year now and everything i felt was what dying was like. Then I'd think more and come to the conclusion that I've been dying since I was born, everything I've done in my life is what dying feels like. This had all led me to the belief that dying is not a quick "you're there then _poof_! You're gone" process like books and movies made it out to be. Dying is slow, it is not a single moment in your life because it _is_ your life. Or, I was just a depressed cancer kid who thought to much and dying really is just a _poof_ moment.

A long _bzzz_ sounded through the room as my phone vibrated on the wooden side table. I didn't need to pick it up to know tht it was Max. We'd made plans for today and she was texting to see if I was really "up for it" like she had every other day this past week. I wasn't up to it, but she didn't need to know. This was suppose to be our first "official" date, and I wasn't going to wreck it just because I was tired.

So I got up and put on my big boy pants and hey, I even brushed my hair. I woulf make our first official date our best official date, even if it was the last thing I did.

5 hours later we were at a concert for a local band that Max was interested in. The band was halfway through their set and I had just gotten back from the bathroom where I had tried to cure my oncoming dizziness by breathing non crowded air. It had worked, kind of, and now I was back and able to focus. The band was about halfway through an acoustic song.

_I know it seems like it's impossible just to stop it all_

It didn't _seem_ impossible it _was_ impossible. Everything keeps moving and everything would keep moving even when I couldn't.

_and if you think I'm a mistake just break it off_

Someone bumped into me

_Yes this downward spiral's going viral_

I felt sick again.

_off with her head_

I couldn't concentrate.

_I've never been so loyal nor have I bowed so deeply._

Everything was blurring, sounds where there one second gone the next.

_Is this a reflection of humanity?_

"Max" I tried to call out, buy my voice was hollow.

_No this musn't be the end._

I was gone.

**Max**

I remember Fang saying he was fine, just a little tired. I remember being at a concert with Fang, our official first date. I remember Fang saying he loves me and leaving for the bathroom, he'd be right back. I remember his hand slipping into mine as the band played an acoustic song. I remember his hand being gone, he'd fallen onto the floor. I remembered screaming until medics pulled him out. "He's probably just dehydrated" they'd said. So I'd told them no, he had cancer. I remember an ambulance, they took Fang and let me sit in. They hydrated him, he wouldn't wake up. "His body is failing " they'd said. That was the last thing I remembered.

None of it seemed real, or atleast not as reL as the current situation. Fang in the hospital, still sleeping. "He's dying " they'd said. Yes, he was dying and there was nothing anyone could do. His mom had asked how long he had left, they'd said a few days.

They didn't understand, I'd need an eternity to say goodbye to Fang. A few days wasn't enough.

Someone was crying. At first I thought that maybe it was me, but I realized it was Fang's Husband was rubbing her shoulders, trying to comfort her. Dylan was staring into space, looking more than a little lost. Iggy was here to, sitting beside me tapping his foot against the floor and gripping the edges of his chair. I held my hand out to him and he gave a week smile before taking it and squeezing it. We would get through this, Iggy and I. We had to, for Fang.

I don't know how long we all sat in the waiting room before a nurse came and announced that Fang was awake. We could all go see him two people at a time. His mom and Eric would go first, and then Iggy and I.

**Fang**

Nothing felt real, but at the same time everything felt real. I was awake, but I was also asleep. I was alive, but I was also dead. That's what I kept thinking.

When my mom came in with Eric. Nothing they said mattered, I am already dead.

Max and Iggy came in 5 minutes after my mom and Eric left. I almost didn't want to see. Well, it was more like I didn't want them to see me. not hooked to A bunch of machines just so I could live a bit longer. I must've looked horrible, but they came in and they smiled at me and Iggy said " Wow, Fangy Bangy, you're a mess."

I smiled , or atleast I think I smiled."Hey, Iggy".

Iggy smiled like there was nothing wrong " Hey dude. Bubbles told me to tell you hi"

Apparently Iggy speaks dog " You're going to take care of him when I'm gone right?"

Iggy shivered " No, you aren't going to be gone."

"Iggy I-"

He shook his head "No you can't die. You're my best friend and I love you like the brother I never had and you can't just go" I could've sworn that by then he was crying but he wiped his arm across his face and stated that it was just allergies. "I should go and.. get my allergies checked out " he murmered "see you later, Fangy poo", and then Iggy was gone and It was just me and Max.

She walked over and layed down beside me on the uncomfortable hospital bed. "You'll take care of , Iggy,right? Make sure he doesn't do anything to stupid."

She didn't reply, instead she rested her head on my chest. It didn't hurt, it felt nice, and we stayed like that for who knows how long not saying anything

I felt something wet soaking into my shirt "Max, are you crying?"

"Maybe" she replied, her voice muffled by my shirt.

"It'll be ok" I told her, though I knew it wouldn't be.

"I love you, I need you. Don't leave me"

_I'm sorry Max_ I thought _I'm so sorry._

**AN: this is the second last chapter. so there's one left.**

**sorry if it was bad and sorry for the grammar.**

**thanks for all your reviews.**


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